Prisoner of Destiny
by WingsCutDarkness
Summary: (Previously "Skyward Sword Remix") A young girl discovers she is part of an ancient prophecy. No time to understand the part she must play along with the chosen hero, for the fated princess once again needs saving and a multitude of obstacles stand in their way. Can the fate of the sky and the land really depend on such an unusual team?
1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

 **A few years ago, I took down all my stories after a pile of negative interactions with the Fanfiction community. This story was originally published as "Skyward Sword Remix" in 2012, and I recently decided to republish it with a few heavy edits, now that I have a pretty solid idea of where I want the story to go.**

 **One important note: "Prelude to Destiny" (previously Spirit Tracks Remix) was written before this one and introduces a key character, though I will be working on editing that story slightly to fit with my new vision. There are quite a few references to "Prelude" in this story here. Think of it as a prequel, which paves the way towards an endgame plot idea I have for these stories and characters.**

 **I'll leave the last important note for the end of this chapter. As always, thank you for reading, and please drop a comment, or constructive criticism if you feel the urge. I love to hear what readers think, and value all your thoughts!**

* * *

 _For many years, the time she had spent in denial of her fate would be blamed on the fact that she had not been ready, her mind unfit to comprehend this enormous burden forced upon her. This excuse was admittedly childish, although quite fitting considering the age she had been drawn out of the life she knew and thrust into another. At the time, it had seemed unfathomable that a destiny so horrific could befall one so young._

 _But years into the future, when her heart had grown strong enough to remember her lost life without sinking into despair, a revelation would come upon her. For so long she had held onto the hope that what had happened to her was nothing but a dream, for the reason that it had started with exactly that. A dream that began with the uncomfortable sensation of her body lurching to draw her out of the grey area between sleep and consciousness._

* * *

She opened her eyes to a soft, blue light permeating throughout the smothering darkness. The light broke off into wisps that flickered around her, forming glowing spheres, and her breath caught in her throat at the familiarness of the small spirit orbs.

"Byrne?" She whispered, daring to believe it could be true. With a feeling of loss she was reminded, as she touched the scarf she wore around her neck, of the time she had spent with Anjean and Byrne, and the destined hero and fated princess. It had always been unclear to her how she had found herself in that storyworld kingdom where there were heroes, magic, and evil forces to be conquered. A world so different than her own.

"Ameila. You must not fear." The voice that spoke was unfamiliar, and ethereal.

"I do not fear. You are just a voice in a dream." She replied, slightly bemused as she floated among the wisps of light. Her mother had told her when she was very young that no matter how terrifying they could get, her dreams would always lack the power to harm her.

"You must gather courage for the great quest you will face."

Mia felt a flicker of excitement in response to these words, and briefly wondered if she was going back. Would they remember her, even though it had been a while? How would things have changed?

"You will witness the awakening of the great hero destined to unite land and sky," the voice went on, growing faint. "And in turn you will learn of the destiny that awaits you."

The girl struggled to retain and understand what she was hearing as the light around her brightened and white, feathery shapes appeared through the fading blue wisps. The light was falling away, or rather, she was falling from it. And at that moment, as she faced a sudden vision of clouds spread before her, she felt fear.

Mia couldn't help but shriek. The weightless feeling made her stomach roll with sickness, and the wind buffeted her ferociously, causing her eyes to tear. As she blinked hard, her attention was caught by brightly-colored shapes moving through the sky all around her, birds with huge wingspans.

 _Loftwings?_

* * *

The wind whistled in his ears as Groose gripped the harness tightly and directed his Loftwing in an abrupt turn. He surged ahead as Link pulled up in alarm, consequently losing speed. "Cawlin! Strich!" He yelled, as the two rose on their Loftwings to flank him on both sides. "Where's that bird?"

The three surveyed the skies, searching for the statuette-carrying bird. Obtaining said statue, would result in winning the Wing Ceremony, give Groose an opportunity to ridicule Link, and also provide a chance to be alone with Zelda for once. When he won, Zelda would lead Groose to the Goddess Statue to perform the rest of the ceremony, and when they were finally alone, he would look deep into her blue eyes and proclaim his-

"KEEEYAH!" Groose was interrupted from his pleasant daydream by a cry from overhead. He blinked, and saw Link streaking speedily after the prize bird.

"G-go get him Groose!" Strich yelled.

"We've got you covered!" Cawlin grinned and reached into the pouch tied around his waist, pulling out two gleaming, white eggs.

Groose urged his Loftwing into a steep dive to gain speed before swooping upward and giving chase to his younger classmate. As he grew closer he saw that Link had pulled right alongside the small target bird, but before Link could reach out his arm and snatch the statue, Cawlin gave a whoop and lobbed a slew of eggs down on the surprise Skyloftian.

"Ahh!" Link shouted, momentarily losing control of his bird as egg goo dripped over his hair and into his eyes. "Groose, that's cheating!"

Groose snickered and pulled his Loftwing around, streaking directly towards the golden bird, specifically, the statue the golden bird was holding in its talons. As he flew closer to the statuette which was right there, _right there_ , the sky was filled with the sounds of shrill screams. And something _slammed_ into him and his Loftwing.

"W-what th'-?" The Loftwing gave a squawk and began to drop. Groose grunted and managed to grab onto the reins with one hand, pulling himself back into the saddle. "What's the big idea!?" He demanded, peering down at the girl who had grabbed onto the harness. "What do you think you're doing!? You're messin' up my chances of-"

"Hey, B-boss!" Strich called. "Trouble!"

Groose looked up. A little ways away, Link was grinning and waving the prize statue at him. "Better luck next time!" He called, and gathered the reins, beginning a slow glide back towards Skyloft.

"What!" Groose spluttered in disbelief, then glared down at the girl This was all her fault! Angrily, he gave her a shove. With a startled cry, she lost her grip. Satisfied, Groose started to charge after Link, but stopped when he realized how close Link was to Skyloft and how useless it would be to attempt pursuit. Cawlin and Strich flew over, woeful expressions on both of their faces. "You...you...idiots!" Groose exploded, causing them to jump in their saddles. "You were close enough to him, and you could have...you could have..."

Link had won. Unthinkable. That shrimp was going to get Zelda all to himself now.

"Uh, Groose..."

"WHAT?"

Strich cringed. "Ah, I just thought that maybe...um...uh…

"What he means to say," Cawlin hastily took over, "Is...how could it be our fault? We were just sticking to the plan that YOU made up."

"It was the perfect plan..." Groose trailed off. He had lost. After days of carefully planning everything out, he had LOST.

"Maybe we should go after that girl." Cawlin said eventually. With a growl of irritation, Groose looked down. She had become a small, dark speck against the clouds, and was still falling.

"I'm sure whoever she is, she'll call her Loftwing." He muttered.

"She seemed pretty young, maybe she doesn't have one yet." Cawlin persisted, looking worried.

"Yeah, s-she might really be in trouble!" Stritch added, wringing his hands.

Groose considered this for a moment, before urging his bird into a steep dive. The girl gave a startled jolt when Groose's Loftwing plucked her out of the air and she scrabbled to get a hold of the talon clasped around her middle. Her pale eyes opened wide, and her expression was terrified as she stared up at him.

"Alright, what's your deal?" Groose demanded as they flew towards Skyloft. "What are you doin' in the sky without a Loftwing? And you better start talking, because your crazy antics just cost me winnin' the Wing Ceremony!"

"M-my...I'm s-s...I didn't...mean to." She mumbled as they landed on the diving platform on opposite side of the island from where the ceremony had taken place. Groose's Loftwing released her with a squawking noise and she staggered forwards, falling against a nearby tree. After a moment spent catching her breath, the girl quietly asked, "Where are we?"

"Skyloft, where else?" Groose snapped.

The young girl was silent, pushing the wind-swept hair away from her face and looking like she was about to start hyperventilating. Her expression slowly changed from fright to something like awe as she looked around, her gaze eventually landing back on him. "Do you... know where the chosen hero can be found?"

"Chosen hero _?_ _I_ should have been the chosen hero!" Having the displeasure of being reminded what was now happening between Link and Zelda and the parts they were playing with each other, Groose gave his Loftwing a sharp nudge and rose into the sky. Unpleasant emotions darkened his vision, and within moments, Skyloft was rapidly growing smaller in the distance.

* * *

 **Music is a big inspiration to me when I write. Throughout this story, I'll occasionally be listing a few tracks that helped me shape particular chapters as I wrote them. Some of them are official soundtracks from Skyward Sword, and some aren't, but nearly all of it is instrumental.**


	2. Chapter Two

Zelda stood on the edge of the diving platform, alternating between standing on the balls of her feet and rocking back on her heels as she scanned the skies.

An annual event, the Wing Ceremony was held on Skyloft for the students enrolled in the Knight Academy. It consisted of a race, and then a competition where the participants mounted their Loftwings and chased after a golden bird carrying a bird statuette. The one who claimed the statue first would be declared winner, advance to the next class level at the academy, and take part in the following ceremony, where they would play the part of the Goddess's Hero.

Zelda herself had been chosen that year to play the part of the Goddess, Hylia. She was given a knee-length, soft pink dress, and an even more beautiful golden instrument. It had strange patterns painted on the sides and many strings, which, when strummed, produced a near-perfect stream of notes that reminded Zelda of the river running through Skyloft.

She had gotten up early to rehearse her lines and put the finishing touches on the handmade sailcloth she had worked hard to finish before the day of the race. The sailcloth would be presented to the victor high on top of the Statue of the Goddess at the northernmost point of Skyloft. Zelda could only hope that it would be her childhood friend who she would be performing the ceremony with, although worry creased her brow.

Earlier that morning, and merely a few hours before the race, Link had discovered that his Loftwing was missing. Zelda had immediately suspected Groose, as it was the redhead's tendency to pick on Link. Whether he did this out of jealousy or just because he was bigger than Link, Zelda didn't know. She _did_ know that with some snooping around, she was bound to find a hint tied to the missing bird.

She had called to her own blue Loftwing and flown around Skyloft for some time, before Pipit, one of the upperclassmen, told her that someone had heard Groose and his friends talking about hiding Link's bird near the waterfall. Zelda had quickly directed her bird behind the flow of water, which inexplicably trickled from Skyloft and into the sky below. Much to her relief, she had found Link freeing his imprisoned Loftwing from a small cave. Although relieved, Zelda was quite furious at Groose, and had vowed to have a talk with him later.

 _Although_ , she thought to herself now as she watched the small shapes of Loftwings darting around the sky, _It's likely that I'll just be wasting my breath._

Groose would probably just smile goofy as always with his tawny eyes half-closed, like whenever she tried to talk to him about something serious.

Zelda rolled her eyes and mulled over a certain classmates' stupidity, then glanced up, her attention caught by a figure that was rapidly coming closer. She squinted; her expression of irritation turned to one of happiness, because Link was proudly waving the statuette at her.

"Link!" Zelda laughed in relief. Completely confident that her friend would catch her, she gathered her harp and waited for Link to pass beneath her before leaping off the platform and falling straight into his outstretched arms.

"Zelda!" Link protested with a worried look. "That was dangerous!"

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine!" She smiled as Link's bird carried them over to the Statue of the Goddess.

The massive stone statue rose into the sky and was shaped like the Hylia the old texts spoke of with her eyes closed, and folded wings protruding from her back.

"Great flying Link." Zelda congratulated, hopping off the Loftwing onto the smooth, circular platform carved securely into both hands of the statue. "Now, we better get on with the ceremony, so hand me the bird statue."

Link nodded and handed the little bird over. Zelda took and placed it in a small crevice in the statue, offering it to the Goddess. She then took out her harp and closed her eyes before plucking gently at the strings with her fingers.

 _Oh youth, guided by the servant of the goddess...unite earth and sky...bring light to the land..._

The words floated through her mind as she played, although she did not sing. Zelda felt a little strange whenever she played the golden harp, which was said to have been used by the Goddess in legends. Her feelings were sort of happy and sad at the same time. Like finally returning home after a long journey, only to find that you missed the freedom and excitement of adventure.

She'd been having the strangest feelings and thoughts lately...

When she was finished playing Zelda opened her eyes and placed her harp by her feet, holding out her hand.

Link smiled, then knelt and bowed his head, placing his hand in her own as Zelda began to speak.

"Great Goddess, guiding light and protector of our people. Grant us your blessing and mercy as I act in your stead."

Above their heads the Loftwings circled, stray feathers of blue and red drifting down all around them.

"Valiant youth, who grasped victory, in tradition of our old ways, I now bestow the blessings of the Goddess upon you." Zelda released Link's hand and untied the white cloth draped about her shoulders, folding and handing it to Link. "The blessings of the Goddess drift down from the heavens aloft a sail, which I now pass on to you. Now you can jump from any height without fear of a painful landing. Isn't that exciting?"

She beamed as Link took the sailcloth. "You know...they say that the Goddess gave the sailcloth to her chosen hero long ago Of course, the one you're holding isn't the same one, but I've worked hard to finish making this Sailcloth in time to give it to today's champion. And..." Zelda paused. Link looked up, his azure eyes searching her face questioningly. "...I'm really glad I got to give it to you, Link. Take good care of it, okay?"

"I bet you're glad that it's me that won, and not Groose, huh?" Link grinned, his hands going to his hair and pushing it up into a mockery of Groose's. "'You lay off my 'do right now or I'll pound you! Everyone knows I've got the sickest pompadour in town!'" He growled in a surprisingly accurate imitation of his brawny classmate.

"Link, quit goofing. This is supposed to be a sacred ritual, remember?" Zelda scolded, but couldn't hold back a laugh at Link's now wildly messed up hair. "We should really finish up the ceremony now." She giggled, stepping closer to Link. "You...you do know what happens at the end, right?"

"Um...sort of?" Link blinked as she stepped even closer. Zelda studied him for a moment, amused, her face inches from his. Then she spun him around and pushed him closer to the edge.

"You have to jump off the statue!" She announced gleefully, knowing perfectly well Link had been expecting something different.

"What?" Link eyed the ground a couple hundred feet below him where the flowers in the grass looked nothing more than colored specks.

"Oh don't be so scared! See that big design on the courtyard below? To finish the ceremony, you need to drop into the center of it. Just jump off the edge, position yourself, and open your sailcloth. Ready...?" Zelda didn't wait for a reply but placed both hands on Link's back and merrily gave him a shove.

The wind carried away his surprised shout. Zelda peered down, smiling with relief when she saw him successfully open the sailcloth and float gently down. She whistled for her Loftwing and joined Link on the ground.

"I thought you said jump!" Link panted once landing. "Not 'be pushed'!"

"Wasn't it more exciting that way?" Zelda dismounted and ran up to him, clasping her hands together. "That was great! You're amazing, Link!"

"Well, thanks." Link grinned at her, and Zelda grinned back.

"You know..." She mused. "Seeing as you won today...and with the weather being so nice...do you want to go fly around the clouds together?"

* * *

Soon, they were well away from Skyloft, with the wind sweeping back their hair. Zelda looked over at Link, who was flying slightly higher and to her right. His eyes were closed, a faint smile flickering over his lips as he eagerly welcomed the air gusting in his face. He had always loved flying in the clouds.

Of course, so did she, but recently she found her thoughts wandering to what lay beneath the cloud barrier separating them from the Surface, as it was known in Skyloft.

Most doubted that there was anything down there at all, and some thought it nothing but a barren wasteland. Zelda herself, imagined something much more.

She had this relentless, nagging feeling that there was something significant down there, and one day she was determined to find out what. She had often talked to Link about it, but he never took it as seriously as she hoped, which annoyed her slightly. She decided to bring it up again, hoping that he would actually listen to her, as he was the only one she felt she could talk to about those sorts of things.

"Link? Hey Link!" She called, raising her voice over the wind. Link slowly turned to look at her, his expression vacant, his eyes almost the exact color of the sky. "Today was amazing." She said, to give herself time to think of how to bring up the subject of the Surface. "Watching you win the race, and performing the ritual together...I'll always remember this."

Link smiled down at her.

Zelda hesitated. "You know...there's...something I've been meaning to talk to you about-"

She never got her chance, however, because there came a blinding flash of dark light and a massive swirl of wind appeared, not ten feet away from them.

"What...what is that?" Zelda gasped in shock as the unnatural mass of twisting wind pulled her and her Loftwing closer. She huddled against her bird and attempted to pull up and out of there, but couldn't seem to move any direction except straight towards the storm. A sickly, yellowish light pierced her eyelids, and she shrieked as the wind tore her away from her Loftwing, sucking her further and further down towards the cloud barrier and stealing the air right out of her lungs.

"Zelda!" She heard Link cry after her, and the last thing she saw before falling unconscious was his horror-struck face high above her and her harp, a speck of gold in the swirling winds.


	3. Chapter Three

**What I listened to while writing this chapter:**  
 **Only the Beginning of the Adventure - The Chronicles of Narnia: Official OST**

* * *

Mia stood leaning against a tree, her knees shaking as she tried to calm her breathing. From the plethora of evidence presented before her, she could do nothing but conclude that she was in Skyloft. Skyloft, the great floating island from the story of the sky-born hero, the guide who resided in the blade of legend, and the beautiful spirit maiden. It was one of those stories she was vaguely aware of, but not familiar with in its entirety.

Clutching her scarf nervously out of habit, she inched onto the nearby diving platform and carefully looked over the edge. Nothing but a dizzying drop to clouds. The view made her head ache and she hurriedly stepped back.

 _Witness the awakening of the hero_ _… does that mean I am meant to travel with the hero of legend once again? As I did before?_ She wondered as she recalled what the voice had told her. _I know this cannot possibly be anything but a dream. There isn't such a thing as goddesses and great heroes in real life. These are just fairytales mothers read to their children. But... It feels real. And the scarf..._

As it usually was with dreams, many details of her adventures in the storyworld of New Hyrule had faded the moment she had woken up, or returned, years ago. As time had passed it felt more and more like those adventures hadn't actually happened, but Byrne's scarf was the singular discrepancy in her theory about it just being a dream.

It was all so confusing. The ache in her head was worsening, and she doubted she would find the answers to her questions by standing there and thinking herself sick. What mattered now was finding Link, the hero of legend, and witnessing his awakening like the voice had instructed. It seemed to be the most logical thing to do at the moment.

 _Perhaps once that was done, the voice would provide more insight as to why the voice called my name, and spoke of a destiny._

Trying to pat her messy hair back into place, Mia began to walk along the path heading towards the goddess statue, while observing the world she now found herself in. Everything was considerably bright, the colors seeming rich and intricately detailed.

 _Maybe it's so bright because this island is closer to the sunshine._

Mia noticed the air was warm up there, which seemed unusual considering the island was thousands of feet above the ground. She also noticed that a small creature had padded up to her. Flinching a bit, Mia took a few steps away from the creature, which tilted its furry head and gave a tiny mew. She felt her eyes soften as the Remlit mewed again, peering up at her with vibrant yellow eyes. "You are adorable." She whispered, crouching and extending her hand to the small animal.

Someone cleared their throat loudly, and Mia looked up to see a small child staring at her. He wore bright blue pants with his long-sleeved yellow shirt, and his short brown hair was sticking in all directions. He appeared to be rolling himself headfirst into a tree. "You're talking to a Remlit." He observed, getting up off the ground and rubbing his head. "That's weird."

Mia felt the corners of her mouth twitch as she stared at the child's messy hair. "What are you doing?" She asked, and rose from her crouch.

"I'm trying to get this bug that's hiding up there." The kid turned and pointed at a branch with a stubby finger.

"You want to catch it? I can help you." Mia offered. The boy nodded, his curious expression turning into a grin as Mia cupped her hands and got into a half-crouch beside the tree. The boy stepped onto her fingers, managing to scramble up onto the tree branch with a boost. The bug, which looked like a blue beetle, immediately flew away. The kid made a grab for the insect, but lost his balance and landed hard on the dirt.

"Ow...stupid bug." He pouted, then jumped up and pulled something off of a thick, green stem growing out of the ground nearby.

"Are you alright? What's that?" Mia looked curiously at the soft fruit he held.

"You don't know what a heartfruit is?" The boy giggled, then picked another one and handed it to Mia. She cautiously turned the red fruit over in her hands. "They taste like candy!" The kid encouraged, already halfway through his. Mia's curiosity got the best of her. She raised the fruit and took a small bite. It did, indeed taste sweet like candy and very soft. The kid grinned and wiped some juice off of his mouth with the back of his hand. "I'm Gully. Thanks for stopping to help me, even if the bug got away."

"Do you know where the knight academy is?" Mia asked.

Just then a huge bird flew over their heads, stirring up the leaves on the trees and sending them whirling through the air. It was a bright red Loftwing, clutching a limp figure in its talons. Remembering that the Crimson Loftwing belonged to the hero in the story, Mia suddenly realized the figure must be Link. Forgetting to say goodbye to Gully, Mia stood and began to follow the Loftwing, keeping her gaze locked on the bird as it headed into the heart of Skyloft.

It led her across a bridge and through a large plaza with houses and shops circling the area, and a large, colorful tent in the middle. She saw a few Skyloftians, who stared curiously as she ran past, struggling not to lose sight of the the hero and his bird.

Her footsteps slowed as, panting and slightly out of breath, she crossed another bridge into what must be the academy area. There were two buildings to her left, one slightly taller and with more windows. Directly in front of her was the largest building, and where the Loftwing had dropped down, gently laying the unconscious figure on the grass and let out a loud, squaking cry.

The large wooden door opened, and three figures raced down the steps to meet the bird. One of them, a slender man with silver hair, hefted Link in his arms and carried him inside, while an older man began interrogating a taller man with long, brown hair. The older man was wearing an orange robe that reached his feet and had an air of authority about him. Mia guessed the older man must be the academy headmaster, and father to the spirit maiden, Zelda.

She couldn't hear what they were saying, but the headmaster's gestures became frenzied as they both turned and began to climb the steps.

"Wait..." Mia spoke softly, then hesitated and watched the door close behind them, unsure whether it would be best to follow them inside or wait until the excitement had died down.

"Looks like you missed him!" With surprise, Mia turned to see Gully trotting down the path. He caught up and watched Link's receding Loftwing. "Wow. I wonder what happened!"

Mia didn't bother to reply and continued to stare at the closed doors, unsure what to do next. She would have to wait for the hero to wake up, she supposed. A sticky hand on her arm made her look down as Gully tugged her, apparently trying to pull her away from the academy.

"You're a visitor, right? Come on! I'll show you around Skyloft!"

XXX

Although Mia had briefly observed the different areas she had passed by while chasing the Loftwing, she let Gully show her around. They went all over Skyloft, from the bazaar tent, to Gully's favorite climbing tree, where he persuaded Mia to climb up with him. She did so willingly, grateful to have someone friendly to distract her from the surrealness of the situation. It felt... so real, the warmth of the sunshine, and the breeze lifting the loose hair around her face felt so real. As if she were really standing there, on the island in the sky. As if she was a part of this story world.

Gully took her to the waterfall, where water mysteriously trickled out of a rock and down into the sky, and finally to a one-eyed bird statue, where he poked and prodded the empty socket, his face screwed up with curiosity. "I wonder if the other eye is around here somewhere. We could go look for it!"

Mia wracked her brain. She didn't remember anything about a bird statue or its missing eye. It was possible she hadn't gotten that far in the story, or had forgotten about it, or that it didn't mean anything at all.

"It is getting late." She observed, as she noticed the clouds had began taking on a pinkish tinge as the sun crept closer to the horizon. She wondered if the hero had woken up yet, and fidgeted with her hands. She wanted to be at the academy when he set off to discover his destiny.

"Aw, yeah, I guess so." Gully jumped down off of the statue. "Are you gonna be staying here for a while?" He asked as they walked back toward the plaza, where most of the houses in Skyloft seemed to be clustered.

"I'm not really sure… it's hard to say. My name is Mia." She added, realizing she had never introduced herself to the boy.

"Okay, well maybe I'll see ya around. Thanks for playing with me. Bye Mia!" He waved and took off, disappearing somewhere in between the red and yellow houses.

"Goodbye!" Mia called after him. She stood in the middle of the street for a moment, then wandered back toward the knight academy. Most Skyloftians seemed to have disappeared inside their houses, and as she walked through the plaza, yellow squares of light began to shine through windows she passed.

 _Nothing to do but wait now._ Mia thought as she sat on a bench outside what she assumed was the dorm building. Once again, her thoughts were consumed by the various worries that had been bothering her all day.

 _This is all so strange._ She thought, shivering as the air cooled slightly. _But I suppose I should accompany Link on his quest. It is what I did last time this happened... although, this feels different. And I don't even know how to use a sword, or how to read a map, or anything really useful._

As she waited, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around herself, she finally addressed a glaring problem, one she had been struggling to find a solution for.

 _How in the world am I going to convince the hero that I need to accompany him?_


	4. Chapter Four

Despite knowing in the back of his mind that he was unconscious, Link felt very much awake. He was falling through darkness. A darkness that gradually brightened as a blue light came out of nowhere. High above his head, a indiscernible figure appeared, silhouetted against the light.

"Link..." The strange voice spoke. "Link, you are vital to a mission of great importance. The time has come for you to awaken to your destiny."

The figure disappeared back into the light and Link heard a cry. Zelda was falling beside him, her face pale, and her blue eyes wide with fear as a massive creature covered in blackness reared out of the darkness beneath her and opened an enormous mouth filled with sharp teeth.

He bolted upright, drenched in a cold sweat. His breath came in ragged gasps and for a few moments, he didn't know where he was. As his vision cleared, the darkness faded into the familiar surroundings of his room at the academy. He was sitting on his bed, clutching at the blankets with tight fists.

"Ah, you're awake." Zelda's father was sitting at Link's desk and poring through a thick, dusty-looking book. "When your Loftwing carried you back limp and unconscious, we all feared the worst. Fortunately, you don't seem sustain any serious injury."

It was just a dream, Link realized, and decided to mention his strange dream to Gaepora. When he had finished, the headmaster closed his book and stood. His tall figure was stooped and his eyes held no trace of their normal lively twinkle. "Where is Zelda? She was with you, was she not?" With a heavy heart, Link told him what had happened, starting with the ceremony and ending with Zelda being snatched out of the sky. "A storm of black wind?" Gaepora eased his large self back into Link's chair.

Link began to pull on his boots, which had been placed on the floor beside his bed. His sheath was strapped across his back still, and he checked to make sure the sword was there before rising to his feet. Gaepora glanced at him. "You must not push yourself."

"We cannot sit and do nothing." The knot of worry in Link's chest was growing tighter as each minute passed.

"I am concerned for Zelda as well, but as long as she's with her Loftwing, I am sure she will be fine. Either way, daybreak has yet to arrive. It would be very difficult to spot one girl and her bird in the dark of night. Not to mention dangerous."

Link fell heavily back on the bed, biting at the inside of his cheek as worry continued to eat away at him.

Gaepora rested his chin upon his chest, brooding. "Tell me, when you saw Zelda today, did anything seem...off?"

Link thought for a minute. "Not today. But lately she has mentioned again the strange feelings she's been having. About the Surface."

"I see." Gaepora looked thoughtful. "So Zelda was talking about the surface again? And you had dreams about a 'great mission'? How interesting." He stood, sliding his book somewhere within the massive folds of his robe. "I must study the ancients texts further, see what they speak about the Surface. Rest now Link. Zelda's going to be fine. She's out there alive, I know it." With a grim nod, the headmaster left the room, pulling the door shut gently behind him.

Feeling completely overwhelmed with worry for his friend, Link let out a big breath. He sat heavily on the edge of his bed, staring at his boots, but barely seeing them as his mind whirred with troublesome visions of what may have happened to Zelda.

He didn't know how much time had gone by before he heard a strange, silvery noise come from outside his room. He raised his head as the noise came again. It sounded almost like a murmur. Curious, and a bit apprehensive, Link pushed himself off of his bed and cautiously opened the door, expecting to see Gaepora, but nobody was there. By some providence, his head was turned just so, that a flicker caught his eye before he turned back into his room.

On the stairs that led to the lower floor was a figure floating slightly above the ground. She had long legs laced in black and green ribbons, and in place of arms were what looked like fluttering wings of fabric. One was purple, matching the dress she wore, and the other was a bright blue. Her hair was short and reached her chin, tapering into a soft point at the top of her head. Her skin was the same shade of blue as her hair and a tiny diamond sparkled on her forehead, set just above her expressionless eyes. She was like nothing Link had ever seen before.

He stepped forwards, and the girl moved slightly away in response. Mesmerized by the glowing light pulsating around her, Link hardly noticed his feet moving as she led him down the stairs. He hesitated, before walking down the hallway and stepping carefully past the closed doors of the rooms on either side of him. Defying everything that made sense, the girl then passed straight through the door at the end of the hallway that led outside.

Link stopped. No one in Skyloft went outside at night. The instructors strictly enforced the rule, and nobody asked any questions. A series of screams suddenly came from outside, and for the first time, Link broke the rule and hurriedly pushed open the door with one hand reaching for his sword.

The night air was cool, and it was very dark. It took a moment for his eyes adjust and to figure out what he was seeing, but when he did, he realized that the noise seemed to have come from a figure running from a small, shadowy streak of fur. Link watched as the figure dashed and awkwardly scrambled up into a nearby tree, huddling against the tree trunk on a low branch. The small creature hissed and spat and started scratching at the bark. _A Remlit?_

 _Everyone should know better than to approach Remlits at night,_ Link thought as he carefully inched up and grabbed the cat-like creature's bristly tail. Its red eyes flashed and it batted at him with its sharp claws as he pulled it off of the tree. It snarled and hissed, and Link winced, holding it away from him at arm's length as he hurried over to the bridge that led to Skyloft. He tossed the creature to the ground, jumping away. It snarled at him, then slunk off and disappeared into the shadows.

Hearing a creaking noise, he looked back just in time to witness the figure scramble awkwardly to the ground, landing hard on the packed earth beneath the tree. As the figure slowly pushed themselves up, Link saw that it was a young girl.

"Are you alright?" He asked, stepping forward. The girl winced, then looked up and froze.

Link stared back and there was a pause that lapsed into a silence. In the pale light from the waxing moon, he could see the girl was shorter than him, and he noticed she was wearing odd clothes. He didn't recognize her; was she a visitor from one of the other floating islands?

"You should get inside." He said finally. "There's a rule about being out at night in Skyloft because it can be unsafe." The blue floating figure he had momentarily forgotten about was hovering a little ways away and appeared to be waiting for him. Almost forgetting all about the young girl, Link began to advance, speeding up as he followed the strange figure.

Soft footsteps followed him over the cobblestone path.

Link stopped and turned to the young girl, who avoided his eyes for a moment, then slowly turned her gaze to him. "I was waiting here for you."

"What?" Link peered at her curiously. After a moment he chuckled, thinking he knew what was going on. The kids around Skyloft always looked up to the knights-in-training, even pretending to go on adventures with them and other such games.

"I know it sounds strange," the girl continued, "but I was sent here by...the Goddess. She...brought me here to help you."

"The Goddess." Link repeated with moderate disbelief, looking the child up and down. He was nearly convinced she was one of those kids who like to pretend they were knights, until he heard the next words out of her mouth.

"The...the Goddess has sent me dreams of the Surface." She mumbled and toying with the end of the long braid draped over her shoulder. "I...I believe I am meant to travel alongside you on your quest."

Link squinted at her warily, and she looked up at him nervously, taking in his expression. "I know it sounds rather crazy. But I do not lie."

"What is your name?" Link asked finally, unsure whether or not he should be responding in case all he did was encourage the game she might be playing. As strange as she did sound, something in him just couldn't discount her words, seeing as he had experienced strange dreams and visions himself lately.

"My name is Amelia. But I am usually called Mia."

"And did...the Goddess tell you anything else?"

"I know that the spirit maiden, Zelda, has gone missing, and... I believe I am supposed to help you find her." She replied.

Link was silent for a moment. As far as he knew, him and Gaepora were the only ones who knew about Zelda. The Headmaster wouldn't have spread the news around until it was confirmed she was really missing. He regarded the girl thoughtfully, not fully sure about what to do. She seemed just as wary, an unreadable expression in her gaze as she waited for him to say something.

"Why do you call Zelda "spirit maiden"?" He asked.

The girl cleared her throat and glanced towards the blue figure who was still floating on the path ahead. "Should we… should we not be following the sword spirit?"

* * *

They followed the blue spirit through the far side of Skyloft and up some wooden stairs that lead to a hilly section of the island. The silence was uncomfortable but Mia refrained from speaking, as she thought Link might be trying to figure out if she was completely crazy. She tagged behind him, feeling slightly crazy herself.

A massive statue in the distance seemed to grow taller as they approached. The path to the statue appeared to be inaccessible at night, a thick gate blocking the entrance in the rock wall separating the area from the rest of Skyloft. The sword spirit floated to the right of the statue, on an alternate path that sloped steeply downwards and probably wouldn't be noticeable unless someone were really looking for it. Link and Mia took this new route, still not speaking.

The nature of the path required jumping across gaps in the ground through which, at times, Mia could see the sky and stars. Glowing green bugs flew around her face and small bats with red eyes swarmed the air. Mia batted the bugs away and ran to catch up with Link. He had started climbing a patch of thick vines growing up the wall that flanked the path, and shortly made it to the top. Trying not to look over the side of the very narrow ledge she was standing on, Mia grabbed onto the rough, leafy vines. It took her awhile, but with great effort she managed to haul herself up and drop down on the other side of the wall, her arms trembling with strain.

Link had stopped in front of the massive statue, which was silhouetted against the stars and loomed high above their heads. The base of the rock seemed to be shimmering. It continued to shine a moment more before fading entirely, revealing an archway opening in the statue. The sword spirit disappeared into the structure with a flick of her arms, and Link immediately started forward. Mia followed behind him, through a short passageway and into a large chamber with a tall ceiling. A soft light came from many lit torches, their flames casting flickering shadows on the walls.

"Where did..." Link murmured, and then fell silent as he caught sight of a raised platform in the middle of the room, holding a slab of stone into which a sword was half-embedded. In a stream of light, the blue spirit shot out of the weapon, circling high in the air before coming to rest in front of them. Her feet floated above the stone floor, and her blue hair and skin gleamed strangely in the torchlight. The jewels on the front of her dress and the in the middle of her forehead sparkled. Mia was utterly captivated; the sword spirit's unearthly beauty was beyond anything else she had seen.

"The one chosen by my creator. I have been waiting for you. You will play a role in a great destiny. " She addressed Link, whose eyes widened slightly. "According to your social customs, I shall now provide you with my personal designation, which is Fi. I was created for a single purpose, long before the recorded memory of your people. I must aid you in fulfilling the great destiny that is your burden to carry."

Mia could barely tear her eyes away from the luminous spirit. She looked sideways at Link to gauge his reaction, but he was simply silent, staring up at Fi with an unidentifiable expression.

"Come Link." Fi continued in a soft, yet somehow emotionless voice. "You must take up this weapon which you see before you. As the one chosen by my creator, it is your destiny."

Mia breathed out a sigh, a feeling of awe passing through her at the sight of the weapon. It was amazing to see it embedded in the stone, and to know it was the key to the great hero's awakening. The sight also filled her with apprehension; once the sword was drawn and the hero awakened, would she discover the reason for her arrival here, during this crucial time?

Slowly, Link stepped up on the platform. Wrapping his fingers around the purplish, green-striped hilt, he smoothly pulled the sword from the stone. As he did, a slow flash of light shot through the blade from within, making the silver shine brightly.

"Recognition complete Master...Link." Fi said, her voice echoing through the room as Link examined the blade.

"Incredible." Another voice echoed through the room.

"Headmaster Gaepora?" Link was staring over her shoulder, and Mia turned to see the old man with the orange robes standing in the doorway. He was stared at the sword Link was holding.

"Incredible." Gaepora repeated. "Here we are in the Chamber of the Sword, the very place where it was foretold the youth of legend would appear."

"Under the circumstances, it is only logical that you would exhibit some apprehension. To minimize your uncertainty, allow me to divulge the passages from the ancient texts." Fi began to intone. _"When the light of the goddess's sword shines bright, the great apocalypse will wake from its long slumber. It is then that a youth guided by my hand shall reveal himself in a place most sacred. The youth shall be joined by a fated child during their awakening to destiny, and the one born of the blade shall accompany the youth on his great journey."_

"Those are indeed the exact words." Gaepora sighed deeply. "A few days ago, the sword that I've kept secret here all these years...it began to give off a faint, otherworldly light. At first, I was sure I was seeing things, here alone with the sword. I never dreamed the prophecy of legend would come to pass-"

"I am...a part of the prophecy?" Mia spoke, accidentally interrupting the headmaster. She had been pondering Fi's recited words and suddenly realized what the sword spirit had said. _How could my destiny be written about in this prophecy?_ She wondered, as a feeling of foreboding gripped her.

"Headmaster, do you know of this girl?" Link stepped down from the pedestal in response to Gaepora's questioning gaze. "She was waiting outside of the academy, and spoke of visions from the Goddess. She has seen the Surface, and knows of Zelda. She asserts she is to travel with me."

"The prophecies indeed speak of a fated child." Gaepora stared at Mia thoughtfully.

Mia felt her face grow warm under their scrutinizing gazes. "But… it does not make sense."

"Perhaps in time the Goddess will reveal more to you." Link regarded her, his expression lacking the strong skepticism he had worn when they had spoken together in front of the academy. Mia felt a rush of relief. It seemed the hero was starting to accept she was to travel with him.

"Link, think about this for a moment. The world below is forsaken, and to reach it, you must pierce the cloud barrier below." Gaepora pointed out. "How are you going to do that?"

As if in reply, Fi held out her arms. "Master, you must embark on a great journey beneath the clouds to the vast realm of the Surface. It is only through this journey that you can fulfill the mission set before you by my creator, the goddess." A glowing square brick, not unlike the rail maps in Spirit Tracks, materialized and floated through the air towards Link. "This tablet will illuminate a path through the clouds to the land below. Take it and place it in the altar behind me." Link sheathed the goddess sword, leaving his old sword lying at the foot of the altar. The stone slab dropped into Link's outstretched hands. It looked heavy, but Link didn't seem too troubled by the weight.

"Master, the first thing you must do it hit the crest sitting in this room with a Skyward Strike. These blasts are formed of pure energy that charges within your blade when you lift it skyward." Link handed the stone tablet to Gaepora. He then drew his new sword and walked over to the far side of the room, where a strangely shaped crest was set in the floor. It looked to be made of very shiny stone. Once in front of this crest, Link lifted his sword and swung it in a wide arc in front of him. The sword shot out a blast of light, and the crest began to spin counterclockwise. As the crest continued to spin, a pillar rose up out of the ground beneath it with a rumble. In this pillar was an indented space meant for holding the tablet. Link took back the tablet fragment from Gaepora and carefully pressed it into the empty space.

"Master Link, it is done," Fi said. "Until now, a cloud barrier created by the goddess has separated the world you know from the one below. The tablet you placed in the alter has opened a small rift in the barrier. You can use it to travel through the clouds to the realm below." In parting, Fi turned into a compressed ball of light. "I reside within your sword and will accompany you in your travels." She flew down into the sword now strapped across Link's back.

"Link, listen a moment." Gaepora murmured, taking Link aside. "The nature of the great apocalypse mentioned in the old texts is a complete mystery to me, but whatever it turns out to be, it seems that both you and Zelda have large roles to play in the destiny of this land. Just think! If what Fi says is true, Zelda is alive! Alive and no doubt coming to terms with whatever it is the Goddess has in store for her." Mia shifted her weight as Gaepora turned to her, the bottom of his long, orange robe swishing on the ground. "And you, my child."

"My name is Amelia."

"Based on your recount of the visions and dreams the Goddess has sent you, we can conclude that you are obviously the fated one mentioned in the prophecy. Should you heed the call of destiny, I don't know what dangers you may have to face along with Link, Amelia. But if you've decided to brave the unknown, please help to find my daughter and bring her back to me."

"I.. I will try my best." She replied, her fingers fidgeting at her sides.

Gaepora's worried expression seemed to smooth out. "You have a great journey ahead of you, Link, and those clothes do not look up to the task." He turned and began walking towards the entrance to the chamber, Link and Mia following behind. Link glanced down at his thin shirt and patchy pants as they left the statue. The gate that led to Skyloft had been opened. Once they were all through, Gaepora locked the bars with a large key.

A large portion of the walk back to the academy was spent in silence. Mia was still thinking about the prophecy, and the title given to her. _Fated child. Awakening to Destiny..._ She wasn't sure she liked how involved she was becoming. It was an uncomfortable feeling. _It was not like this the other time. I had just...gone along with it. I had been too caught up in those adventures to worry about anything,_ she recalled. _I didn't even spend much time wondering how I found myself a part of the story in the first place, or how I would return._

"I'm not even sure what would be ideal for travelling to an unknown land." Link was saying.

"The uniform you were to receive for winning the race should be ready by now. A sturdy uniform like that will prove much more suitable for a journey." Gaepora said, his deep voice lowering as they approached the academy. He pushed open the great doors and held them open for Link and Mia to walk through, and they padded quietly down the hallway. The carpet they were walking on was so thick and plush, it felt like Mia could bury her feet up to her ankles if she were to walk without her boots.

"Amelia, in the few hours before dawn, you may have Zelda's bed to rest." Gaepora offered, leading them both up some stairs and stopping in front of a room. He brought a key ring from somewhere within his robes and unlocked the door. "You may feel free to borrow some clothing if you wish for something more suitable as well. I feel like if she were here, Zelda would desire to aid your journey as much as possible." His voice had gone quiet, and Mia shifted uncomfortably. Although it felt a bit odd, accepting his offer to occupy Zelda's room, she felt it would have been rude to refuse. And as soft as the carpet was, she did not exactly wish to sleep out in the hallway.

"Thank you." Mia stepped into the room and hesitated in the doorway, not sure what to say in parting. It felt very odd, standing there with Gaepora and Link after all that had been revealed to them in the Statue of the Goddess. It was probably strange for them too, she thought, especially for Link who had just learned he was part of a great destiny along with a stranger he had never met.

"We should leave as soon as possible. Will you be ready in the morning?" Link asked.

"I will." She closed the door gently, feeling it was a good time to remove herself from the conversation. There were doubtless many things that Link and Gaepora wanted to talk about that night.

The room was dark, but her eyes adjusted enough to make out a desk and a bed in the small space. Without bothering to pull off her boots, Mia gingerly lowered herself to the bed, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling that had been rolling her stomach ever since she had heard the spoken prophecy.

She lay awake a while, unable to feel completely at ease in the unfamiliar room. She suddenly felt overwhelmingly alone. Her worries also kept her from sleep; she knew that once they progressed past a certain point, her knowledge of this story would be useless, and what then? How would she explain her sudden lack of knowledge to the chosen hero? The nagging worry in the back of her mind would not leave her alone, but eventually she closed her eyes and felt herself began to drift asleep. Her last thought before succumbing was wondering if she would still be in this world when she woke.


	5. Chapter Five

Link slept restlessly that night, his thoughts full of sword spirits, and monsters, and Zelda. When the first rays of sunlight began peeking over the horizon a few hours later, he reluctantly dragged himself out of bed, feeling exhausted.

In the dim light, he found and put on the new uniform that Gaepora had given him, which consisted of a close-fitting dark green tunic, a long-sleeved shirt and light chain mail underneath that. There was also a long green cap, leather gauntlets, which Link pulled on before slinging the sword sheath over his back and leaving the room. His mind felt numb; it was hard to acknowledge everything Fi had told him last night, that he was destined to be a great hero and destined to save the land from evil. It seemed impossible to believe.

He paused in the hallway, briefly considering waking Mia. He decided to let her sleep while he prepared to leave; the young girl was probably just as exhausted.

"Hi Link! Gaepora said you were going on a big journey...?"

Link startled slightly and turned to face his younger classmate, Fledge. "Yep. That's right!" He wondered to himself just how much Gaepora had told the other knights at the academy.

"So it is true! I mean, of course Gaepora wouldn't lie or anything. And don't worry about me telling anyone else, Gaepora only told me you were going on an adventure, because I felt bad about eavesdropping and told him I heard you two talking in your room last night." Fledge ducked his head sheepishly.

Link always forgot that the academy walls were pretty thin. It was a good thing Fledge was in the room next to him, and not someone who would babble. At least he knew Fledge was honest, and would keep what he heard to himself.

"Anyways, I thought I'd try to catch you before you left, because, well..." Fledge gave up on words and shyly brought something out from behind his back. "I made this for you. It's an adventure pack! You can fill it up with all kinds of stuff you might need." Link took from him a belt with durable-looking bags of various sizes attached to it. Fledge watched him, hopefully. "Do you like it?"

Link immediately went to strap it over top of his uniform. "Fledge, this is great! It will definitely come in handy where I'm going." He smiled at his young friend.

"Oh good." Fledge sighed in relief. "Just remember: you can put all your stuff in there now, so you don't have to carry it all in your hands. Oh, and maybe you should go to the Bazaar and stock up before you leave. That way you can get potions, and a shield! Don't forget the shield!"

* * *

Once saying goodbye to Fledge and grabbing a bag of rupees from his room, Link wandered outside and started down the path that led towards the Bazaar tent.

Pipit and a few other of his classmates were sprawled lazily in the front of the dorms, taking advantage of the time before classes started. Pipit's dark yellow uniform was bright against the deeper green of the grass as he rolled over onto his side and raised an arm at Link in greeting. Strich's eyes were hidden under his shaggy blonde hair as he peered intently down at his book, not studying as Link first assumed, but instead watching a small grasshopper make its way across the pages. Cawlin glanced up and scowled when he saw whose shadow had fallen over him. Link met his glaring eyes, and the moody youth was quick to look away, still scowling.

It felt surreal to walk past his classmates with the secret knowledge he carried. Even through he faced the familiar sights of Skyloft, everything felt different; reality felt different.

In the Bazaar tent, Link made a beeline for the item shop. The shop's owner showed him a selection of shields, which were all pretty overpriced, but Link bought one anyways and left with a nearly empty wallet. He slung the round wooden slab over his back, hoping it would be enough to help protect him from whatever things were found the Surface. With an ache in his heart, he thought of Zelda and regretted all the times he brushed off the conversations she tried to start with him about the Surface. She had probably studied all the books in the academy, and had a good knowledge of the dangerous monsters rumored to be found down there. If he had paid attention to her, he might have picked up on some knowledge that would have come in handy.

Thrusting all thoughts of Zelda out of his head for now, Link adjusted the sword sheath underneath his new shield and concentrated on what he might need to prepare for his journey. As he walked past a medicine booth, the sharp scents of various herbs floating up from the bubbling concoctions caught his attention. He stopped to look at the brightly colored vats of potion.

Luv, the potion maker, noticed his interest and came over, pushing the long sleeves of her green dress past her elbows. "Hello there Link! Beautiful morning, isn't it?"

"Yes." Link answered politely as she leaned on the counter towards him. He squinted at the label on the pots and pointed to a red potion. "What does that one do?"

Luv smiled and pushed away a long red curl of hair off of her forehead. "That one is a heart potion. It's made from heart fruit and other special plants that restore your energy." That sounded good to have. Link dug into his pocket and pulled out his remaining rupees, then frowned.

"How do I carry it?"

Luv thought for a moment, then turned around and scanned the wooden shelves behind her. "I was sure I had a... Oh! There it is!" She reached up among various herbs and potion ingredients and retrieved an empty glass bottle. "Oh, don't be silly." She said, handing it to Link and waving away his protests. "I don't even use it anyway."

Thanking her, Link placed the correct amount of rupees as was specified on the sign in Luv's hand. He then dipped his new bottle in the warm heart potion, filling it to the brim and plugging the top with the cork bottle stopper.

"Now don't be thinking you need to use it all up at once." Luv advised as Link slipped the bottle into one of the bags on his belt. "One mouthful is enough to keep your strength up for quite some time,"

Link nodded at Luv before turning and wandering towards the delicious smell of cooking vegetables.

"Now, I think I forgot the- Oh! This needs more pepper, I think." A woman behind the counter muttered, tasting from a simmering pot with some kind of soup in it. Link had to smile. It was common knowledge that Piper paid good money for the specially sourced ingredients she used. But it was well worth it, as practically everyone in Skyloft flocked to her restaurant for delicious meals, morning noon and night. She also served as one of the many academy cooks, as between her two jobs, made good business, and was able to provide for her small child, Gully. Link had to admire her work ethic. Not to mention her cooking skills. Handing her one blue rupee, Link picked up a bowl of hot soup and took it to a small table in the corner.

Mere seconds after he had sat down, someone called his name. He looked up to see Karane, one of the seniors in his class, skirting around chairs. She nearly knocked over a pile of dirty dishes stacked haphazardly on the edge of a table in her haste to get to him, and her dark blue eyes were wide with something like alarm. She stopped in front of him and nervously tugged at one of her bright red pigtails.

"What is it, Karane?" He asked, stirring his soup.

"Well, you see, Gaepora told me to go wake up the guest staying at the academy, saying she needed to meet with you later or something. I had to actually go into Zelda's room to wake her up because she was still sleeping pretty late and wouldn't answer the door." An annoyed look flickered over Karane's freckled face. "She wasn't exactly in a very good mood after that because she woke up pretty confused, like she had a weird dream or something. Then she almost tripped on that desk that I keep telling Zelda to move against the wall. You know, the one with the paint coming off of it?"

Link was no longer focused on his soup. It wasn't like Karane to get worked up over many things and on those rare occasions when she did, she never babbled this much.

"So anyway," Karane continued, "She ran into the hallway, saying something about finding you before you left her behind. And then, I guess she thought Groose's room was yours."

Link winced, barely noticing he had began to rapidly tap his fingers against the wood grain of the table as a feeling of dread overtook him. Karane was fidgeting with the green hat on her head. "He was surprisingly good-natured about her barging in, especially considering you know, it's Groose, and when is he ever good-natured about anything? Remember that time with the beehives-"

"Karane," Link interrupted impatiently. "What happened?"

"Right, so all Groose did was yell a bit and tell her to get out. Which isn't really that bad, because there are plenty of other things he could have said, but...that girl got all bent out of shape..."

Link dropped his elbows heavily on the table, supporting his face in his hands. Dealing with Groose was not something he wanted to do, especially not today. _Especially_ when he had delicious soup in front of him.

"You should probably go say something before Groose kills her." Karane glanced over her shoulder uneasily. "And when I left, it looked like that seriously might be happening soon. I didn't tell Gaepora because it's...pretty embarrassing, but the instructors might have to get involved...if..."

Looked like the soup would have to wait. As much as he wanted to let someone else take care of this problem, Link reluctantly pushed back his chair. He and Karane left the Bazaar tent and hurried back to the academy, where there were textbooks lying open on the ground outside. Pipit and the others had clearly felt the need to leave quickly.

Karane paused on the cracked, stone doorstep. "Know if there's any free spots in the graveyard?"

Link snorted and leaned on the doors, pushing them open just enough to let him and Karane to slip through. The first thing he noticed besides the small crowd of students congregated in the middle of the hallway was Pipit, leaning against a wall off to the side. "Link, is that the one who fell out of the sky yesterday?" He asked, and then frowned. "She's not very bright, is she?"

Link felt his eyes widen. On the other side of the wall of students stood Mia and Groose, glaring at each other.

"You're th' one who barged into my room and started with the insults." He heard Groose's stony voice. "And YOU'RE the one who made me lose the Wing Race!"

"I saw the eggs. If you hadn't tried to cheat, maybe you would have won the race fair and square."

"What are you talkin' about? I wasn't cheating." Groose snapped. He was getting visibly steamed.

"You are a cheater!" The girl retorted, craning her neck to look up at the redhead. "A bully who has to cheat in order to even come _close_ to beating Link!"

An audible gasp came from everyone watching the scene, followed by a deathly moment of silence. Link was struggling to get past the students in front of him, but quickly realized the futility of the situation. There were just too many bodies in the way.

All that was remaining of Groose's self-control snapped, and he lunged towards Mia with his huge hands outstretched. She squealed and ducked away, dropping to the floor and crawling away between the legs of the slack-jawed students. "Such bravery, such daring!" Karane exclaimed. "Such...utter stupidity. Where did this girl come from anyways?"

Link ignored her and quickly moved along the outside of the students, trying to find Mia. Groose had the same idea, and probably would have gotten to her first, had the crowd of students in his way not restrained him. "Yeah you'd better run pipsqueak!"

Link found the girl crouching behind a bookshelf down the hall, her eyes huge. "What were you thinking?"

"He is a bully." She whispered, though he noticed the nervousness in her expression, and the way her voice shook slightly.

"That doesn't matter. Nobody messes with Groose." Quickly, Link grabbed her by the wrist and pushed her towards a side door down the hall, where they were able to escape unseen. Link let go of the girl once they were outside the academy. "We should leave. Are you ready?"

She glanced over her shoulder, then nodded as Link walked to the very edge of the nearby diving platform and whistled loudly. With a screech, his Loftwing flew out of the sky and lighted beside him, ducking its red, feathery head affectionately. He patted the side of the Loftwing's face, then grabbed the harness and pulled himself up, staring down at Mia, who was staring up at him. "I...suppose you don't have a Loftwing?" He observed, after she made no move to dive off the platform and call for one.

"No..." She said sheepishly, and Link reluctantly extended his hand.

* * *

Soon they were airborne and flying towards the pillar of green light coming up through the clouds below.

"So...you're mentioned in the ancient texts...and here you appeared on Skyloft, yet you don't have a Loftwing." Link mused. "Do you come from the Surface? Or somewhere else in the sky?"

"I am from a land far away," The girl muttered.

"How did you get to Skyloft?"

"The Goddess sent me..."

Hearing a change in her voice, Link glanced over his shoulder. To his surprise, her eyes were screwed tightly shut. Her hair whipped around her face, which had turned pale. It seemed crazy that someone who would stand up to Groose would be afraid of something like heights, yet Link felt the child trembling as she tightened her grip on his shoulders.

"Your Loftwing will not go past the cloud barrier." Mia said as they came up to the strange, swirling rift. "Not...not even through that hole in the clouds. You will have to dive off and use your sailcloth."

"Yes...But how then...how are you getting down?" Link directed his Loftwing in a wide circle around the rift, keeping them level in the air.

"I...I don't know."

This was a complication he hadn't considered. Link thought for a moment, then let go of the harness to pull Zelda's sailcloth out of where he had tucked it safely under his tunic. Keeping a tight grip on it so the wind wouldn't tear it out of his hands, he shook it out. "You'll have to hold onto my back."

"W-what?"

"There's no other way both of us are going to get to the Surface." Link said impatiently.

"Okay, I will do it." Mia waited for him to shift his sword and shield to the side before she brought her arms around his front. "I just hope we don't die." She mumbled, locking her hands tightly together and sounding like she was about to be sick.

She seemed really scared. Link tried to soften his tone. "We'll be fine. Just don't let go."

Mia didn't get a chance to answer because suddenly they were right over the opening in the clouds. Link swung both legs onto one side of his Loftwing, and with his heart beating rapidly, took a deep breath, and slid off.

And then they were falling through the sky. They were falling towards the Surface. They were finally going after Zelda. The sailcloth suddenly caught the air and they were no longer falling but floating. Floating through the clouds and towards the unfamiliar ground below

* * *

All Mia remember after they jumped off of Link's Loftwing was just holding on for dear life. Somehow, they must have made it past the cloud barrier, because suddenly they were landing with a small force that jostled her against Link's back.

"Master Link, we have arrived. By my calculations, we are currently positioned in a location known as the Sealed Grounds."

Mia let go of Link and tumbled to the ground, feeling him stumble slightly. She kept her eyes squeezed shut and tried to calm her breathing, deciding that falling through the sky was one of the worst things she had ever experienced. She didn't even bother trying to stand up, knowing her wobbly legs would not support her.

"So...is this the Surface..." Link said uneasily. "I thought it would be...different."

Mia opened her eyes and saw fog. It was so thick and wispy that it almost stopped her from seeing the large, deep pit directly in front of them. Scrambling to her feet, she hurriedly stumbled backwards, nearly into Link who moved closer to investigate.

The little strip of land they had miraculously landed on was no more than a ledge jutting out from the wall of earth. It was fenced off to the left and directly in front, but Mia saw that if they were to jump off the right side they would land on a path a few feet below that went around the pit.

"Let's go see what that is over there." Link suggested, pointing to the building Mia had just noticed on the other side of the pit, its outline barely visible in the mist. He easily walked over to the right side of the ledge and peered down at the dirt path below. "Are you coming?" He asked, then shrugged when she didn't reply. "I'll go on ahead then." With that, he dropped down off the little platform, putting his left hand to the ground and vaulting the three-foot drop to the path below.

Mia watched him trot down the path and marveled at how little time passed before his figure became swallowed by the mist. It suddenly occurred to her that she was alone and without a way to defend herself. Fear pricked her arms, and she swallowed a lump in her throat. _I cannot really be here, and therefore it must be a dream. And miraculous dream, nonetheless, but whatever this is, it cannot hurt me,_ she reminded herself. Awkwardly, she inched herself to the side of the ledge and dropped onto the path below.

"Link! Where are you?" She called, as she began to make her way along with her back pressed against the wall, trying to stay far away from the pit. Suddenly, she remembered the sword Link had left in the chamber of the Goddess. "Foolish." She whispered to herself. "I should have picked that up!"

A building presently began to take shape through the fog, and Mia was relieved to see Link standing in front of the old temple. Bits of brick and pieces from the roof of the building had fallen and lay scattered across the ground. There was ivy crawling up the crumbling walls, but the sealed stone door was surprisingly intact.

"Do you remember the sword that you left behind?" She asked. "Do you think there is a chance we could go back and get it before we travel any further?"

"Do you even know how to use a weapon?" Link absentmindedly replied as he inspected the piles of rubble.

"No, but I think I would feel better having one with me."

"I'm...not sure how we are going to get back into the sky."

"Oh..." Mia hadn't thought about that. The uneasy feeling caused by all the fog intensified, and she kept close to Link as he left the crumbling building and wandered to the edge of the pit.

"Amelia, look down there." He said suddenly. "That black smoke, do you see it?"

"I see nothing." She squinted toward the bottom of the pit. Out of the blue, Link gave a yell, his face contorting into a disturbed expression. Mia jumped in surprise and stared as he stumbled backwards a couple of steps. Suddenly, he bolted back towards the old temple. Fear was rising within her steadily as she ran after him, and found the hero leaning against the stone door. "What just happened to you?"

He looked up, but from the way his eyes were unfocused, Mia got the feeling he wasn't really seeing her. "We...need to...go down there."

"Into the pit? But why?" Mia shivered.

"You cannot hear the voice?" Link's voice faltered as his gaze shifted to her with uncertainty.

"No...I do not hear a voice. What does it say?"

"It calls me by name and tells me I must follow the black smoke. That I should raise my sword, aim at the evil aura, and unleash its power."

"Perhaps if you were to jump off the edge and use your sailcloth. You could drift straight down." She suggested, then added softly, mostly to herself. "A voice that calls you by name must know whatever it's talking about."

"You'll wait here then?"

She nodded and settled down on the cold, rocky ground, leaning back against a decaying stone wall and hugging herself to ward off some chill. Link pulled out his sailcloth and took a running start forwards, jumping off into the pit. Mia waited nervously, her eyes darting all around. There was no noise really, no sign of any other living thing, but there was really no telling what could come out of the mist.

It wasn't long before Link came climbing back up the path. Mia stood to greet him as he got closer, and realized the sword spirit had emerged and was floating behind the hero.

"Master Link, I am sensing a change in the area that was triggered by your Skyward Strike. I have also detected an aura that correlates closely to your sailcloth. I surmise this aura belongs to Zelda. I can lead you in the direction of this aura through a process known as dowsing." She offered.

"What is dowsing?" Link stopped in front of the temple doors beside me. Mia waited to see if he would offer some explanation of what exactly transpired down in the pit. But he said nothing, and she didn't feel curiosity enough to ask.

"Dowsing is when I detect the presence of something you wish to search for using the sword. The nearer you are to an object emitting the aura in question, the stronger the response will be. This response manifests itself through vibration, illumination, and sound."

Link held his sword in front of him. "This will help to find Zelda?"

"Why not try it out?" Mia suggested.

Fi disappeared back into the blade, which immediately began to pulsate with soft, blue light. The sword glowed brighter as Link pointed it towards the temple and he gasped, immediately sheathing the blade and running forward to push open the doors, which opened smoothly, despite their worn appearance.

Mia followed him into a room with huge pillars stretching up to a ceiling speckled with holes, through which she could see the grey sky. In the middle of a dust-covered floor were crumbling steps, which lead to a raised platform with a massive stone door set in the far wall. Strange symbols and designs were carved on the stone, but they were faded and hard to make out.

In front of the door sat a small, hunched figure wearing a red robe, the ends of which splayed on the ground on either side of her. Intricately woven braids wrapped around her head and covered her eyes. A long, single braid hung down on the right side of her face and twisted into a circle at the bottom, swaying freely like a pendulum. "Ah...the travelers descended from the clouds above. I welcome you, children of fate." Her words were unhurried and even, her voice not at all creaky like Mia would have expected from her appearance. "Tell me, what is your name, you who bears the goddess sword?" Mia noticed a faint, white teardrop shape on the old woman's cheek as she and Link reached the top of the stairs.

"My name is Link."

"And I am Mia."

"Link? Mia? Ah, good. Very good. I sense you have already gained control over the sacred power that fills your sword when pointed Skyward. If the Skyward Strike is indeed yours to command, then it is proof that you are fit to bear the blade you carry. I have sat here for many years, waiting for you to arrive, all so that I could fulfill my purpose as your guide. You stand under the roof of the Sealed Temple, a place built by the goddess an eternity ago." The old woman raised a hand, hidden in the deep sleeves of her robe, and gestured upwards. "Your arrival here was predestined many, many years ago."

Mia stepped forward. "We are searching for someone."

"Yes, have you seen a girl around here?" Link asked.

"The spirit maiden you seek arrived here shortly before you, descending to this land in a shower of light." The lady murmured. "There is no doubting it. The gears of fate have begun to turn."

"You've seen Zelda here? Where is she now?" Link demanded. The sword he held no longer emitted light of any sort but as he looked around anyways, as if expecting Zelda to be hiding behind the crumbled walls or in the shadows of the deteriorating pillars.

"She must have continued on," Mia guessed, struggling to recall what little of this story she had actually seen. "There is...a temple deep in the forest. The spirit maiden will doubtless be travelling there, to bathe in the sacred spring and seek the goddess's wisdom."

"How do you know this?" Link was staring at her as if her head had began to levitate off her shoulders.

"I have seen it." She declared, struggling to appear confident in her words. "The goddess has shown me in… in visions." It wasn't exactly a lie. The way the stories were interactive back in her own life, producing sound and with moving pictures, anyone from this land would probably think they were visions.

"Link...Mia...you are concerned for your friend and seek her whereabouts, yes? That is understandable. The spirit maiden, the one you call Zelda, has indeed has set out for Faron Woods to discover that destiny for herself, and you must follow." The old woman reached somewhere in the sleeves of her robe and pulled out a rather old-looking parchment. "This map will guide you along the Surface. I have placed a mark on the path that leads to the temple."

Link took the map and examined it for a moment before pointing at a depiction of a building in the middle of a forest. "So then...should we follow her? To the temple in the woods?"

"That is correct. Leave through the door before you and head into the woods. I wish you travel safe."

"But how will Zelda get through the woods alone?" Link asked as he folded the map and tucked it into a pouch at his side.

"Know that all the questions you have will be answered in time." The old woman said. "For now, Link, go bravely. Fear not. For the time being, Zelda is safe."

* * *

A shockingly bright stream of sunlight struck their faces as Link and Mia together managed to pry open the side door and step outside the temple. The sounds of many birds filled the otherwise quiet air. Mia thought it was a peaceful sort of quiet. The fog was gone; the atmosphere as a whole was drastically different from how it had been on the other side of the temple.

She glanced at Link in time to see his eyes widened as he took in the tangle of trees further down the well-worn path that led away from the Sealed Grounds.

"The forest." Mia blinked in the sunlight and stared up at the gigantic trees. Thick branches full of many leaves stretched up to the blue, cloudless sky. She noticed was that it was very warm, almost tropical. The aroma of flowers and other vegetation was almost thick enough to taste. And the forest was very beautiful. Streams of light filtered through the tops of the trees. Leaves spiraled down through the air, catching the sunlight. Ferns curled around the bases of the tree trunks, and a thick carpet of grass covered the forest floor.

In the middle of it all, a figure with a huge pack on his back stood fearfully, surrounded by a gang of red monsters with close-set yellow eyes. Their piggish faces twisted into snarls as their clawed feet scraped on the ground. The horns hanging around their waists gleamed unnaturally white, and looked made of bone.

Mia had just noticed the monsters were armed with metal weapons of some sort that looked pretty sharp, when Link grabbed her sleeve, pulling her silently behind a nearby rock. After a moment, they peeked cautiously over the top of the boulder to watch the disturbance take place in front of them.


	6. Chapter Six

Pangs of mild panic made swallowing the lump in Link's throat a difficult task as he stared at the snarling red monsters from behind his hiding spot. He had never seen such creatures before. Secretly he had been hoping they would avoid running into many monsters on the Surface.

"Bokoblins." Mia whispered beside him, peering over the top of the boulder. "Don't worry, these monsters should not be hard to beat."

"You stay here." Link told her, as he drew courage to step out from behind the boulder. "Don't let them see you."

There were five monsters in total, and Link quickly determined the only thing they were armed with were the jagged metal clubs they held. Readying himself and adopting a firm stance, he drew his sword, alerting the monsters to his presence. They immediately screeched and the closest one raced directly towards him.

Link ducked, narrowly avoiding a clumsy, yet vicious slash meant for his head. He jumped away from another aimed at his torso and lashed back with a swipe that connected with one of the monster clubs, sending painful vibrations racing up his arm.

 _They're blocking my attacks,_ he realized, _their weapon is doubling as a shield._

All five monsters surrounded Link in a circle, close enough that Link could smell their foul breath. Beads of sweat dampened the hair on his brow as he dropped in a crouch, preparing for their next move. He had an advantage with his longer weapon, but he was outnumbered. Grasping the sword with both hands, Link swung with all his might. He winced as the blade sliced deep into a scaly red arm. The injured monster screeched and tore away; warm, foul-smelling blood sprayed up in Link's face and he shuddered in disgust, ducking to avoid an attack from the wounded monster's enraged comrade.

His eyes widened as the monsters drew closer and simultaneously raised their clubs. Now frantically blocking the blows that were were raining down on him from every direction, his boots slid on the slippery grass while he struggled to keep his footing on the iffy terrain.

"Over here!" The monster's heads swiveled in the direction of the shout, pausing their brutal assault.

With a flare of panic, Link wondered what she was doing. He raised his head and peeked over his shield to see the girl standing on top of the boulder and waved her arms wildly, shouting nonsense.

 _She was trying to distract them_.

Seizing the opportunity he crouched down, keeping all his weight on his toes. Gathering his remaining strength, he gritted his teeth and brought his sword around in a wide, sweeping circle that effectively sliced through the monsters. The speed at which he executed his blow threw each and every one of the creatures backwards in a mess of blood and bits of gore.

Mia looked about to be sick as she gingerly stepped around puddles of blood, making her way towards him.

Link leaned on his sword, painting, and stared at the dead bodies of the grotesque monsters oozing blood and other fluid onto the ground. _Maybe getting her that sword would be a good idea,_ he thought. Although Mia was a bit young, if she had a sword and some basic training then he wouldn't be facing the monsters all by himself. Or at least, she'd have been able to defend herself if one of them had gone after her. The pounding in his temples began to slow, his breath coming out more evenly as the exhilaration of his first battle began to fade.

"Hey, thanks for jumping in there to rescue me bud!" The traveler he had saved looked particularly relieved and came over from where he had been huddling beside a small bird statue. Link tried not to openly stare. He'd seen Gorons in illustrations of the books Zelda had spent quite a bit of time reading. He had believed that the the creatures were made up, a story, but Zelda had always believed they were a race that still existed on the Surface. If she were here right now she would shove Link's shoulder as her face lit up joyfully. He could almost hear her delighted laugh echo in his ears. He shook his head to clear his mind of the image, and felt his chest grow painfully tight again.

"Don't worry about it." He answered the Goron, feeling the weariness from his fight with the monsters start to register in his arms and legs as he got off his knees and wiped the blood off his sword onto the grass.

"I tell you, there are all sorts of weird things going on lately. This is the second time I've bumped into one of your kind today!"

"You saw someone else? Was it a girl?" Mia asked, looking up from where she had been scraping the monster residue on her boots against the ground.

"Hmm...I can't remember exactly." The Goron scratched his head. "I only got a small glimpse before those red things attacked me."

"I'm glad Link was able to take them all out." Mia beamed, and then admitted, "I was getting worried for a second there."

"No reason to get worried. I know how to defend myself." Link protested. He'd be lying if he said his heart wasn't still pounding from the gruesome encounter, but he did his best to try to appear collected as he sheathed his sword and adjusted the sleeves of his tunic.

"Anyways, as a thanks for getting rid of those guys, let me tell you something cool!" The Goron shifted the huge bag higher on his back. "I am Gorko the Goron. And I've been researching the ancient history of the woods here. According to the ancient texts, there is some kind of place up there called the Isle of the Goddess." He gestured to the sky.

"The sky is where we -" Link coughed inconspicuously, cutting the girl off. He wasn't sure how much information was smart to give to strangers, and he didn't feel comfortable sharing that they were from the sky. Luckily, Mia caught the hint and her mouth snapped shut.

"Apparently these old statues serve as landmarks to those traveling to and from the sky." Gorko continued. "And this statue is said to have the ability to activate all the others. The whole thing sounds crazy, I know, but I for one believe it to be true. Otherwise, why would all these statues be here in the first place?"

"How does this statue work?" Link asked, leaning closer. The moment he did, the statue lit up with the same blue light as his sword had, and wind began gusting out of the ground beneath his feet. Bits of grass and leaves went swirling into the air, and Mia gave him a shove. Link stumbled a bit out of the strengthening column of wind. "That wind could have taken you all the way back to the sky without me!"

Link glanced back at the statue and saw that the wind had disappeared when he had moved away. "Don't worry." He said to Mia. "I would have made sure to fall right back down." To himself he wondered, W _as the wind connected to the sword, myself, or something else?_

And also, _I hope the Goron didn't catch her implication that we came from the sky._

Luckily, Gorko seemed to not have noticed. "WHOA! What in the world just happened?" His eyes looked about ready to pop out of his enormous head. "Did you use some kind of magic? That statue reacted the moment you got near it, bud. How crazy is that? I have to study this further! This may be the key to learning about the island in the sky!" The Goron reached into his pack and pulled out a thick scroll, which he immediately became engrossed in. "You know...it's said that the streets up there are paved with gold. A river of magical water runs through the heart of it and whoever drinks of it lives forever! The fruit that grows on the trees can cure any sickness! And the people who live up there have wings and fly like birds! I MUST find out more about this place!"

Mia was smiling a bit as Gorko wandered off, still raving about the magical island in the sky. Link turned and glanced at the forest behind them. "We should get going." Mia nodded, and they began walking towards the trees.

"Master, you have now entered Faron Woods." Fi announced as they trekked down the unfrequented path and into the forest. The branches overhead began to intertwine in a twisted tangle, blocking out much of the light as they went deeper into the woods. "Looking at the probabilities, it is extremely likely that Zelda is somewhere in the area. I recommend you continue to use your dowsing ability to search for her."

"Do you know this place?" Link asked the girl walking beside him.

"Yes." She replied. "I have seen this place. It's familiar."

Link checked the map and then his sword, taking it out to make sure they were on track. It seemed to react the most when he pointed it towards a bush on the ground a little ways away. The bush was shaking though there was no wind. It might have had something to do with the red monsters that were peering down at it. "More Bokoblins." Mia whispered, and Link nodded.

"There are only two of them this time." Link murmured in a low voice. "Stay out of sight until I'm done with them." The girl slipped behind the trunk of a tree, and Link started creeping up behind the monsters, taking care to let his feet fall softly against the forest floor.

When he managed to get within attacking distance he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and slowly pulled it out of the sheath. Alerted by the faint rasp of metal, the monsters whirled and raised their crude clubs. Having the advantage of surprise, Link didn't waste a moment before plunging his sword into the monster's midsections in quick succession. The squelch as he pulled his sword out of the second corpse was rather sickening. Although it had been significantly easier than his first encounter with the monsters, the quick termination of the battle wasn't leaving him feeling any better about facing more of the creatures in the future.

"They're really not very bright." He observed, careful to avoid stepping in the blood pooling from the bodies.

"Maybe they are hard of hearing." Mia suggested, coming out from behind the tree. Link shook his head and sighed inwardly when he noticed his tunic was soiled in several new places. Recalling the feel of his sword slipping through the thick, leathery flesh, Link felt a little nauseated. He swallowed the feeling down, as a voice came out of the still-shaking bush the monsters had been gathered around.

"H-huh? It's gone quiet." The thing mumbled and sat up, the grassy leaves on its back retracting and folding inwards. The effect was much like the closing of flower petals, and soon all that was left of the fronds was a clustered bud in the center of the creature's back. It hadn't been a creature hiding in a bush, the creature itself had been a bush in disguise!

"Hello?" Link ventured.

The pear-shaped creature jumped and squealed in alarm, "Kwee-koo! Now there's a green one! I didn't even know they came in green! Don't hurt me!" The leafy creature turned and scurried away, diving into a patch of tall grass.

"Master, I have picked up a highly interesting spike in dowsing readings from the life form you just encountered." Fi said.

"But why?" Link asked, not understanding why the sword would be leading him to the fuzzy creature. "This thing has Zelda readings?"

"Maybe it knows where she went." Mia went over to where the kiwi-like thing had disappeared. She rooted around a moment in the tall grass and produced a squealing creature, nearly the size of her head. Without warning, the pod on the creature's back fuzzy brown back snapped open, thick grass shooting out to hit Mia in the face. She jumped and yelped in surprise, promptly dropping the thing, which curled up on the ground and refused to move.

"Ah. A Kikwi. Kikwis are highly intelligent beings, capable of speech." Fi said as Link moved closer to the shivering animal.

"Upon further observation...clearly this creature is not Zelda." Fi said, as Mia came over to join them, brushing grass off of herself and rubbing her cheek.

"KWEE!" The Kikwi suddenly shrieked, upon realizing it was surrounded again. "Don't eat me!"

"No, we don't want to eat you." Link said. He had to smile at the expression on the creature's face. It was quite cute.

The Kikwi sat up. There was a strange vine-like thing curling out of the top of its head. "Kee-paleep! I'm Machi! I'm a Kikwi!" He said suddenly. "You seem okay, even though you're scary." The creature tilted his head to the side and studied Mia. "A little while ago, I ran into another funny animal with long fur like you, but yellow instead of brown."

"Yellow hair? Zelda?" Link asked, barely daring to hope that she was still in the area.

"I don't know who she was, but she seemed to be in big trouble when I saw her." The Kikwi told them. "She a friend of yours, kwee? A pack of those mean red guys were after her, but she escaped with the Kikwi elder. They went back to his tree. The biggest tree in the woods!"

"Master, we have obtained new information on Zelda's current status." Fi said. "This information indicates that she was assailed by monsters but somehow evaded capture. I infer that she is still in significant danger."

Link swallowed, hard at the thought of Zelda encountering Bokoblins in the woods. "Right." He decided. "Let's go."

"If you are heading to the elder, would you mind telling him I'm safe?" The Kikwi squeaked after them.

XXX

The elder wasn't as hard to find as Link expected. A little ways up the path was a large clearing, and in the middle of the clearing was the largest tree Link had ever seen.

'Looming' was a word that turned up from time to time in conversations around Skyloft. But he saw now that nothing those Skyloftians talked about - not storm clouds, not crises, not even Groose - could possibly loom as convincingly as that huge tree, which grew larger with each step he and Mia took in its direction.

Mia gasped softly. Link felt the same kind of awe. Tree roots grew up out of the ground around the tree and formed arches, high enough that they could walk under them. Under one of these arches was a circle of flowers, and in the middle was an enormous, fuzzy brown Kikwi, who appeared to be dozing, but stirred as they approached

"Kweeee..." The Kikwi yawned and blinked down at them sleepily. "Well, well! More two-legs! To think a mere day ago I never knew you creatures existed, and now there's a pair of you. How...kwee...curious!"

Link assumed this giant Kikwi was Bucha, the Kikwi elder. "Have you seen a girl like us around here?" He asked. "She has long yellow hair, and pointed ears. Her name is Zelda."

"Zelda...?" The massive Kikwi said slowly. "Ah. The girl creature with the yellow hair? She looked like one of your kind. Yes she was with me, kwee." Link didn't miss the Elder's use of the past tense and felt his heart sink at the implication. "But now is not the time for such talk." The elder continued. "The woods are full of monsters. I worry about my missing tribe, kweee...The shock and worry has made my memories of the girl quite hazy..."

"But Machi said that you would know where she was," Link said, clenching and unclenching his hands at his sides in frustration.

"What? You've met some of my people, kwee?" Bucha stared at them thoughtfully. "So Machi is safe, eh? Ahh, but the monsters! They are still lurking in the forest. I don't dare leave this spot. Two Kikwis are still unaccounted for. If you calm my worries about my fellow Kikwis, I might be able to remember more about where the girl you seek went off too. Could I ask you to search for them and make sure they are safe, kwee?"

Link stared at the giant Kikwi in disbelief until Mia glanced at him and sighed. "I guess we must search for the Kikwis."

XXX

As they left the clearing to look for the lost Kikwis, they noticed so many red monsters roaming the forest that most of their time was spent using the trees and boulders to make their way through the woods unseen.

"Kikwi!" Link stopped and stared towards the faint squeaking sound on the other side of a thick wall of trees.

"Did you hear that?" He began pushing through the thick brush, batting the branches away from his face and kicking past the weeds. On the other side of the trees was a clearing with a single tree in it. A Kikwi was clinging to its branches, where two more of those red monsters under it.

"Help!" The Kikwi shrieked upon spotting them.

The monster's heads turned in their direction and they snarled. Link drew his sword and stepped into the clearing as Mia disappeared behind a tree. This time, he waited for the monsters to attack and jumped back as their clubs came swinging down, before immediately retaliating, slashing the dominant hand of one of the monsters. It squealed and dropped its club, blood leaking out of the gash on its ruined arm. Link disposed of it with a quick slash to the neck then turned, holding up his shield to deflect a blow from the other monster. The sharp edge of the club stuck in the wood of the shield, and the monster grunted, trying to pull it out. Link gave a great shove, knocking the monster prone, before raising his sword high and stabbing the creature in the gut. It gave a gurgling moan before going limp, bloodshot eyes rolling back into its massive head.

"You scared off all those red guys! So does that mean that you're...you're good guys?" The Kikwi squeaked as Link stepped away from the bodies. He felt a little dizzy as he wiped his blade clean and put it away. He hadn't expected to be doing so much killing.

"Yes, we are good." Mia said, coming out from behind the tree.

"Oh, well, you see, I've got this problem." The Kikwi squeaked. "My legs have turned to jelly and I can't get down. Think you can help me, kwee?"

"It seems that this Kikwi is unable to descend the tree." Said Fi. "I suggest you find a way to expedite his dismount." Link looked over at Mia, and she returned his gaze nervously.

A moment later, she was stepping into Link's hands and he was boosting her up the tree. She carefully inched her way closer to the Kikwi, who was much smaller than the ones they saw before. It eyed her nervously.

"The Kikwi elder sent us to find you." Mia told the Kikwi, while carefully balancing on the branch.

Excited at the prospect of finally getting out of his precarious perch, the little Kikwi hurdled forward into her arms, causing both of them to teeter before...falling. Link winced as they hit the ground, throwing up a poof of dust and dirt.

"Ouch!" The Kikwi rolled out of Mia's arms and a few feet before coming to a stop right against the tree trunk. "That was, uh...effective." Mia groaned, curling up on the ground where she had fallen.

"Thanks to you, I'm saved, kee-paleep!" The Kikwi scampered up to Mia, prodding her with a paw. "Did you say the Elder is worried about me?"

"Uh-huh." She gasped, sounding winded.

"Well, I'm glad to hear he's safe, kwee-koo. My name's Lopsa. If you see the elder, can you please tell him where I am?"

"Dowsing readings indicate there are still Kiwkis to search for." Fi said, dancing out of Link's sword.

XXX

The second Kikwi was on the other side of the big tree, and seemed to be up on a ledge accessible by climbing a wall of thick vines. Mia agreed to rescue the Kikwi, seeing as the the vines looked like they wouldn't hold Link's weight.

"These quests really can really be a waste of time, can't they?" Mia sighed as she held the Kikwi in one arm and struggled to climb back down the flimsy vines with the other. Link agreed, thinking to himself how much ground they would have been able to cover if they hadn't been stuck hunting for Kikwis for the past hour.

Thankfully, when Mia reached the ground with the Kikwi, who was plum-shaped and darker brown than the last one, Link's sword dimmed down, then stopped glowing entirely, indicating that the last Kikwi had been found.

XXX

"Kwee! So all my fellow Kikwis want me to stop worrying?" Bucha chortled when they returned to his clearing. "Aha! Excellent! They know me well."

"So we found your missing pair of Kikwis..." Link trailed off expectantly as Mia dropped the Kikwi she was holding. It raced away and sat beside Bucha, looking tiny beside the Elder's giant feet.

"Kwee hee hee! I feel much less worried now. I believe I just remembered where that young lady went!"

 _Finally,_ Link thought with annoyance.

"That young girl...Zelda was that her name? She said she had to travel to the temple deep within these woods, kweee...oho! I tried to warn her how dangerous it was there, but the clever little thing vaulted off my belly and ran off on her own, just the same. I think she headed down that way toward the temple, kwee, but be sure to take great care if you follow her. That area is crawling with monsters."

Mia glanced at the sky. "It is... growing dark."

This caught Link's attention, for their Loftwings couldn't see well in the dark and were unsafe to fly at night. If they didn't get through the temple and find Zelda before it got too dark, they could be stuck down there on the Surface until morning. "You're right. Let's go."

"Oho, I almost forgot!" Bucha exclaimed. "As a reward for finding all my fellow Kikwis, I will give you a precious Kikwi heirloom."

Link accepted what the Kikwi was holding out to him; A stick in the shape of a 'Y' with a thick rubber band stretched between both ends. "Now you can shoot things from a distance! Here," Mia said, picking something off the ground. "Try it out on that vine."

Link took the round seed, put it in his new slingshot, pulled the band back, and aimed at a thick vine hanging above a wide gap in the path. The vine unfurled as it was hit, and swung towards them across the middle of the pit. Mia reached out and grabbed it before it could swing back to the other side.

They managed to get across the gap without losing various apparatus, and only a short time passed before they came across a large, surprisingly well-preserved building quite deep in the forest.

"This must be the temple," Link surmised, glancing at his sword, which nearly shone.

"It's a good thing your sword makes light," Mia observed. The moment they entered the temple, they were plunged into darkness, as if there were an immediate wall between the light outside and the dark of the temple. The only light now came from Link's sword and small, glowing mushrooms growing in the ground. Even then, it was pretty hard to see more than a few feet in front of them.

"It is very dark." Mia said nervously, and hung loosely onto his shirt sleeve.

"Yes." Link inched forward, one hand along the damp wall. He wondered how Zelda had managed to get through here. Or if she had even decided to enter the temple at all. "Did the Goddess show you this place?" He asked. "Do you know if this is the right temple?"

"I think it is the right temple." Mia replied. "Although, there's something I should warn you about, someone that...that I saw. There's-" Suddenly she shrieked, nearly causing Link's heart to burst out of his chest. He gripped his sword and spun to see her frantically batting at the air in front of her face. Closer inspection revealed silvery-white strands crisscrossed across her arms.

Link grabbed her arm to prevent her from staggering into a large web stretching from wall to wall and blocking their way. "Spiderwebs are not going to hurt you." He slashed the large web in two and helped wipe off the sticky strands, brushing them off of her shoulder. "You startled me. I thought something had grabbed you." He let out his breath in a sigh, his nerves on edge.

The girl shuddered, flicking her fingers to get the webs off.

"There is a door over there." The door Link gestured to was large, and the sword hilt grew warm in his hands as they approached it. Without hesitation, he sheathed his sword and heaved the door open. By some mysterious forces, it started closing the moment they were both inside, and something told him that he wouldn't have been able to stop it if he tried.

The room was empty.

It was spacious, well-lit, and had a large, sealed, golden door in the wall across from them, but it was _empty._

Link had been so _sure_ Zelda would be there. But she wasn't, and he felt like taking his sword and throwing it against the wall in frustration. Before he had time to react, a bright sickly yellow light flooded his vision and suddenly they were no longer alone in the room. Standing in front of them and facing the golden door, was a figure wearing a long, red cape. Link's gaze immediately went to a lethal-looking sword with a glistening black hilt gripped in the figure's gloved hand.

"So...the Skychild made it in. I thought that tornado I stirred up would have tossed and torn you apart, yet here you are. Not in pieces."

"Be careful." Mia breathed, so quiet that Link barely heard her as she hid herself behind him. "This is who I saw. He is very dangerous." Link remained silent and blinked as the figure turned, revealing large, disconcertingly black eyes shadowed with purple. His hair was short on the left and covered the right side of his face in a sweeping fringe. It was white, the same shiny white as the strange clothes that he wore.

"Not that your life or death has any consequence." He said, casually. A large, sparkly blue diamond hung from his pointed ear. "It's just the girl that matters now, and I can sense her here...just beyond this door..."

"Who are you?" Link demanded, keeping his eyes on the strange figure in front of him. "Where is Zelda?"

The tall figure turned back to face him. "Well how rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Demon Lord, Ghirahim." The demon proclaimed proudly. "And what are you?" He turned his attention to Mia, who was still hiding behind Link. "You're not a Skychild."

Mia said nothing, but backed away from Link and disappeared behind one of the pillars that encircled the room.

"Did you really just draw your sword?" Ghirahim turned to Link. "Foolish boy. By all rights the golden-haired girl should have fallen into our hands already." His face contorted into an expression of deep loathing. "She was nearly ours when that servant of the goddess snatched her away." His fingers began to twitch inside their gloves and he ducked his head, but not before Link could see the dangerous gleam in his eyes. "Do you have any idea how that made me feel inside?" Ghirahim snapped his fingers and his diamond-patterned cape disappeared. "This turn of events has left me with a strong appetite for bloodshed. Still. It hardly seems fair to take all of my anger out on you."

The look in his eyes contradicted his words quite strongly, Link thought. Noticing this dangerous change in atmosphere, he uneasily gripped his sword and shield in his sweaty hands while he waited for his enemy to make the first move.

"Which is why I promise up front not to murder you...No, I'll just beat you within an inch of your life!"

With speed Link had not expected, Ghirahim was suddenly no more than two feet from him and lashing out with a flurry of strikes that sent him scrambling backwards. Link was forced to circle around his foe, whose skills, he soon discovered, far surpassed any he been taught. The extremely long sword kept him at bay, and every sword slash Link managed to get in, when he wasn't furiously blocking Ghirahim's attacks was too far away to do any damage. He felt like a mouse, a mouse being toyed with until the larger creature got bored and decided to end the game.

When he did get close enough, Ghirahim simply raised one foot and kicked him straight in the chest, a blow that knocked the wind out of him and sent him flying backwards into a pillar. He lay slumped against the cool stone, wheezing as he struggled to regain his breath, struggled to stand. The taste of blood filled his mouth.

"Watch out!" Mia whispered loudly, racing over to the pillar he had been thrown against.

"What?" He coughed and glanced over at where her face had appeared beside him, to see her eyes widen in reaction to something.

"He is attacking you!" She cried, just as Link heard Ghirahim snap his fingers, a crisp sound that resonated throughout the room. Many small, glittery red shards flew towards him and Link hit the ground. He wasn't quite fast enough because one nicked his ear. He felt blood trickle its way slowly down his neck. And still Ghirahim advanced.

"You said the Goddess showed him to you. Do you know his weakness?" Link hissed to Mia. "How do I defeat him?"

"Um...his c-chest looks like it would be a weak point," she answered in a rush.

No sooner than she had finished her words then a sharp pain tore through Link's own chest, right above his heart. He gave a shuddering cry as Ghirahim removed the sword from Link's flesh and held it up to inspect the blood trickling down the black blade. "I do so despise being left out of the conversation," He sighed as Link writhed against the wall, his shield clattering to the floor as he pressed his arm against the wound in his chest. Blood immediately soaked the sleeve of his tunic, oozing down his arms and making his grip on the sword slippery.

Through waves of agonizing pain clouding his senses he dimly registered Mia shouting something at him, and then her screams as Ghirahim drew back his sword, a look of glee in those dark, sadistic eyes. "Time to die."

* * *

As Link lay slumped against a pillar with blood blossoming from his chest, Ghirahim cackled, and Mia panicked then, and stepped out from behind the pillar she had been hiding behind. Then, she reached down and grabbed her left boot, pulled it off, and threw it as hard as she could. Miraculously, the boot hit Ghirahim in the shoulder and he whirled around. "L-leave him alone!"

Ghirahim drew back slightly and glared at Mia with frightening eyes as she crept over to make sure Link was still breathing. Her legs were shaking as she stared at the slash wound that had cut right through his tunic. Why, oh why hadn't she thought to grab a shield and sword of her own before they had left? Link was right, she didn't know how to use a sword, but maybe she could have bought Link some time or distracted Ghirahim in a different way.

"The only reason you're both still alive is because I find your bravery, and stupidity mildly amusing." Ghirahim spoke eventually. "Had I not have had a gracious tolerance for your impudence thus far, you would be very much dead." Soundlessly, he walked over and crouched down, very close to them.

Mia tensed and eyeballed Link's sword, which was laying on the floor beside him. Although, Ghirahim seemed to have incredible reaction time, so she doubted she would be able to grab it, much less do any harm with it before he pulled out his own sword again. Or skewered them with those red, sharp diamonds.

"You stayed alive longer than I thought possible out of a soft boy like you." Ghirahim chuckled. "But don't clap for yourself yet." His voice dropped to a whisper, which made him sound even more menacing somehow. "I fear I spent far too long teasing and toying with you. The golden-haired girl's presence has all but faded from this place...No reason to linger here." Ghirahim glanced back at the golden door across the room. "Run and play this time. But cross me again...and you're dead."

Mia gulped as Ghirahim eyed her.

"Goodbye Skychildren...or whatever you are." His curious gaze flitted to Mia again. She tried her best to glare at him as he gave another one of his sadistic chuckles, then rose to his feet, waved his sword through the air, and disappeared into sparkly diamonds.

"He was just trying to stall us!" Mia muttered under her breath.

"We need to get to Zelda." Link coughed, sounding weak as he picked up his sword and slid it back in its sheath. His teeth were gritted with effort. Mia watched him wobble to his feet and start walking toward the big golden door that had started to mysteriously open, and she rushed over and grabbed his arm, trying to support him somehow.

As the golden door opened, Mia noticed with mild concern that it was now quite dark outside. They stepped forward toward a pond of water. In the middle of the pond was a statue of the goddess like the one back in Skyloft, except this one was much smaller. Link didn't speak, probably concentrating on drawing breath. His gaze was beginning to cloud over. Mia glanced at the rapidly darkening sky anxiously. The idea of being stuck down there all night with an injured Link and monsters roaming the forests around them made her stomach tighten.

"Master, I have a message written in the language of the gods of old. Allow me to translate for you." Fi said, flickering out of Link's sword.

Seeming to disregard the state Link was in, she started swirling around the small pond, dancing on the water like a skater on ice. Mia turned to watch what she was doing. "From the edge of time I guide you, the one chosen to carry out the goddess' mission The spirit maiden who descended from the clouds must travel to two sacred places to purify her body. You stand in one of these places: Skyview Spring. The other is known as the Earth Spring." She started spinning now, which sent water droplets spraying. "This second spring is hidden away deep within the scorched earth of Eldin."

Mia pulled the sailcloth from Link's belt and pushed it into his hands.

"I...I'm not sure I can you hold this." He muttered as he held onto a nearby bird statue, his chest rising and falling quicker than normal. Mia grimaced at the blood staining his tunic. She could tell he was trying really hard to keep from collapsing to the ground; his legs were shaking with strain.

"The spirit maiden, ever mindful of the heavy task entrusted to her, has set out for this second sacred place." Fi was still spinning.

A bright flash distracted Mia from Link, and she turned to see a stone tablet shooting towards her as a beam of light began to shine from the goddess statue. "Ahh!" She ducked as the tablet went crashing into the side of the temple behind her and fell to the grass with a _thump_.

"This Ruby Tablet will undoubtedly create another opening in the Cloud Barrier, once placed back in the statue of the Goddess, therefore creating a path to our next destination. I suggest returning to Skyloft at once." Fi said before shooting back into Link's sword. Mia rushed over to pick up the Ruby Tablet, then ran back to Link. She could practically feel the adrenaline racing through her body and spurring her actions. "I can hold the sailcloth." She said in a rush.

Link nodded, then tucked the tablet behind his shield and stood behind Mia, looping his arms around her shoulders as she took the cloth from him and shook it out. She felt herself trembling slightly as Link used one of his hands to pull his sword out of the sheath, just enough for the statue to react to the sword's power.

The wind started blowing out of the base of the statue before Mia could ponder this scary thought further. She tightened her grip on the fabric, barely suppressing a shriek of surprise as a sudden gust lifted them into the air and sent them soaring upwards at an intense speed. The night sped past in a blur as they shot above the treeline and into a patch of thick, damp cloud. Mia squeezed her eyes shut and tried her best to ignore the weight of Link holding onto her and the pain of her arms nearly being pulled out of their sockets. She knew Link was in way more pain than she was, and desperately hoped he would manage to hold on.

"Your Loftwing!" She gasped, praying that it wasn't too dark for the Loftwing to retrieve them, as they broke above the mass of clouds. Somehow, Link managed to put his hand in his mouth and let loose with a piercingly loud whistle. A few seconds later, an answering cry sliced through the darkness, and Mia exhaled with relief.

Once the Loftwing was flying right under them Link let go of her, slumping stomach-first onto his bird. He managed to twist his hand into the harness before falling unconscious. Mia let go of the sailcloth with one hand and dropped down behind him, extremely grateful that the Loftwing seemed to know where it was going without her having to try to control it as it began to carry them towards Skyloft.

They landed in front of the academy, where a small group of figures was waiting.

Someone, Mia thought it was Gaepora, plucked Link off of the Loftwing and carried him inside. The other two figures, who turned out to be other academy instructors, reached down to pick up the sailcloth and stone tablet that had been so carelessly dropped. Mia slid off the bird and landed on the ground with a jolt.

"Be careful, he is hurt!" She called, following them inside the dorm building and blinking at the light that came from additional lamps hanging on the walls. Both instructors accompanying, Gaepora hurriedly carried the injured hero into his room. Mia caught a glimpse of Link being laid on his bed before someone closed the door. She stood there, biting her lip and wondering what she should do. She hoped Link wasn't hurt so badly that he wouldn't recover quickly. Someone else, an older women wearing white, rushed down the hallway a moment later.

"Is this the injured knight's room?" She asked Mia, gesturing at Link's door and sounding out of breath. She was carrying a large bag made from white cloth. Mia nodded her head, and the woman knocked once, then disappeared into the room.

Mia stared at the closed door for a moment, then let out her breath in a big sigh and started trudging down the hallway, her hands fidgeting nervously. After returning upstairs to her borrowed room, she discovered her clothes were a mess of dirt, dust, and cobweb strands. After debating with herself Mia decided it would be okay to rifle through Zelda's wardrobe for some clean clothes. She found a long-sleeved cream-colored shirt and brown trousers that were only slightly too long but still manageable, much to her relief. She quickly dressed and pulled her own boots on, retying the scarf back around her neck and leaving her dirty clothing on the floor. She could worry about that later. Right now, she wanted to retrieve Link's old sword.

What had happened in the forest with the monsters, and in the temple with Ghirahim had been frightening, but Mia knew it was highly likely things would get worse from there on out. She thought that having a weapon would make her feel safer even if she didn't know how to use it yet. And so, she snuck out of Zelda's room, quietly creeping downstairs, past the student's rooms, and slipping out the front door.

Skyloft looked frightening at night. Mia had to walk past the graveyard to get to the statue of the Goddess, which she did while holding her breath and praying she didn't see anything supernatural around the graves. There were also huge bats that followed her, their red eyes glinting, and piles of green slime that oozed across the ground, but moved slowly and couldn't get across the gaps in the secret path to the statue.

After Mia managed to climb up the vine-covered wall and get to the statue, upon entering the Sword Chamber she saw that the sword was not there. "It is gone?" She whispered in dismay, after a quick, but thorough search of the chamber. It seemed the weapon was indeed gone.

As Mia started the long walk back to the academy, avoiding bats and slime, she had an idea. Gaepora was the only other one who knew of this place besides her and Link. Perhaps he had taken the sword. She would ask him about it.

She slipped through the front doors and tiptoed through the hallway, taking care to move as quietly as she could past the closed doors. She remembered seeing a couple of doors on the second floor with nameplates on them. Perhaps one of them belonged to Gaepora. She had started to climb the smooth stairs that led to the second floor when a voice nearly made her heart jump out of her chest.

"Don't you remember the rule about being outside at night?" Link was standing in the doorway to his room, shirtless and with a large bandage wrapped around his chest and middle.

Mia hurried back down the stairs. "You are alright?"

He shrugged a bit and glanced at Mia's clothes, Zelda's clothes. She felt a flicker of guilt for taking them, then reminded herself that Gaepora had said it was okay. "They gave me heart potion which is usually good at restoring energy pretty quickly." Link said. "The gash in my side will take a little while to heal, but I can already feel the medicine working. Stamina tea would helps the body recover faster too, so..." He raised the cup he was holding. Mia saw that it was filled with steaming green liquid. "That's what I was doing out here. But what were you doing outside?"

Mia sighed, realizing how bad it must look to see her sneaking around. "Do you remember the sword you left in the Statue of the Goddess? I went to look for it but it was gone."

Link nodded. "That would be because Gaepora has it. We had talked about how you should probably start bringing a weapon along when we go to the Surface. He's keeping the sword safe for you, and…" Mia noticed his hesitant look. Link seeming to be weighing something. "Since you're not technically part of the academy there's no way you're able to get lessons from the instructors without official ceremonies and such, and we don't have time for that. But Gaepora is setting someone up to train you, and...you're going to start tomorrow."

"I will learn how to use a sword?" Mia felt a rush of excitement.

"Well, it's not all good news. There are only three of us who graduated from the minimum amount of swordsmanship classes required to take on a pupil. I'm injured right now, and Pipit is currently off on a mission somewhere."

"Okay…" Mia's mind was racing, trying to figure out what he could be so hesitant to tell her. "So who does that leave?" Link remained silent, clearly hesitating. "Who?" She pressed.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Music I listened to while writing this chapter:  
** **See you Tomorrow - How to Train Your Dragon: Official OST  
** **New Tail - How to Train Your Dragon: Official OST  
** **Kingdom Dance - Tangled: Official OST  
** **Skyloft (Variation) - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword OST**

 **One of my favorite chapters, and an extra long one. :)**

* * *

"Do you hunger to know what these big, lovely eyes will behold? Shall I begin?"

"Sure, whatever. But I want t' hear somethin' about Link though, got it? _Link_." Groose stressed, as Sparrot began making hand motions over his crystal ball.

The reason Groose had resorted to sitting at the fortune teller's booth in the bazaar was because some pretty weird stuff had been going on, a little _too_ weird to ignore. It had all started the day of the wing race, when the young girl had fallen out of the sky, and Zelda had disappeared. Soon after, a pillar of green light appeared in the east, ascending from the cloud barrier like a beacon, and nobody in Skyloft seemed to know what it was. Link had also disappeared and was gone for a full day before returning late last night, injured. To top it all off, from eavesdropping in on whispered conversations of the few academy residents who witnessed Link's return, Groose learned that the strange girl had accompanied Link back to Skyloft. Which meant wherever Link had disappeared to, she had gone with him.

And so, having absolutely no idea what was going on and hating every moment of it, Groose decided to visit the fortune teller in hopes of receiving some insight on the series of strange events and how they might be connected. Or at least some dirt on what Link was up to.

"Hmm. Hmmmmm." Sparrot's eyes were closed; the glow of the crystal ball cast deep shadows on his face, creating a mysterious effect enhanced by the faint flickering from purple and red lamps hanging around the booth. "The road to becoming a hero, on which you are destined to travel, will be long and full of heartbreak and strife."

"No. I don't want t' hear about me." Groose repeated, holding back a sneeze. His nose was tickled by the strong, spicy smell of perfume sticks smoldering in a clay dish on the table. "It's no secret I'm destined for greatness." He rolled his eyes at the ceiling. What a waste of ten rupees.

"Today, it seems you will start to face what will become your greatest challenge." Sparrot suddenly said.

Groose stared at the fortune teller. "Wha?"

Just then, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned his head and blinked. It was _her_ , the girl who had fallen out of the sky and caused him to loose the race. Cause him to loose his chance at playing the goddess's hero with Zelda. Groose felt his irritation levels spiking at the sight of her.

"H-hello…." She shifted nervously. "I...I would like to speak with you."

Groose immediately shoved back his chair and stood to his feet, glaring at the girl, who jumped backwards as he stormed away from the fortune booth and out the nearest tent exit.

He heard her footsteps as she ran to catch up.

"I am not speakin' with you." He snapped, not slowing his pace. She persisted in following him, as he continued down the cobblestone path toward the academy.

"I need your help. I need... to learn how to use this sword."

Groose's scowl faltered slightly as her unexpected request caught him off guard. He snorted and recovered quickly. "Get lost, Pipsqueak."

"My name is Amelia."

As they approached the academy dorms, Groose stopped suddenly and turned to confront her. She startled, taking a step back. He could see that the sword she was wearing at her side was clearly too big for her; the sheath dragged against the ground with every step she took.

"Why do you need to learn how t' use a sword all of a sudden?"

Amelia stared at him for a moment, her blue eyes wide, before her gaze dropped to the ground and lingered there.

"Fine. Don't tell me." He snorted and began to climb the stairs. _She wants t' learn to use a sword, as if her scrawny arms could even lift the thing._ Groose thought. _She couldn't possibly be serious. She must have been messin' around. Trying to cause more trouble._ He snorted again as he threw open the heavy doors.

Gaepora was standing right in front of him, and Groose startled, noticing Gaepora's stony expression with slight discontentment.

"I was looking for you." Gaepora's eyebrows furrowed over his flinty eyes. "Am I to understand that it was you who hid Link's Loftwing on the day of the Wing Ceremony?"

Groose gulped. "Huh? Uh, what? Who told you that?"

"Groose, I don't know what to make of your behavior lately. Stealing your opponent's bird, _cheating_ , along with threatening the younger students if they said anything about it...your recent behavior is more than enough grounds for permanent expulsion from the academy." Gaepora finished sternly.

Groose froze. Being expelled would mean Link would graduate before him, and he knew Zelda would never choose him over a full fledged knight, no matter how shrimpy said knight might be. Everything he worked so hard for over the years, all the progress he had made, would be thrown away in an instant. Groose felt his face began to heat up at the mere thought as a lump formed in his throat and his fists began to clench.

"Unless..."

"Unless what?" Groose demanded, and turned his attention to the propped-open window the headmaster was gazing out of. Outside, he could see Amelia sitting under a tree near the academy. She was plucking at the grass, pulling out handfuls in what looked like a sulky manner. Groose stared at Gaepora as he felt his suspicion growing.

"I would be willing to make an exception and look past these... incidents were you to teach Link's companion the basics of swordplay and self-defense." Gaepora glanced at him, clearly noting the disgust that must have been showing on his face. "I know it has not been long since you learned these things yourself. I am sure you remember how how helpful it was to have a personal tutor to provide tailored instruction."

Groose ground his teeth together, struggling to bite back the incredulous exclamation on the tip of his tongue as disdain rippled through him. "I agree that havin' a personal instructor is helpful. But why do I have t' do it? For her, I mean?" He crossed his arms and jerked his head towards the window. "She's gotta be twelve years at most. Have you seen that girl? She's puny. How am I supposed t' teach her anything when she won't be able t' hold a sword?"

"Even so, it seems this young girl has a role to play along with Link. The young hero and I have agreed that before they continue in their travels, it is best Amelia obtain basic knowledge of self-defense. With Pipit away and Link injured, there is an obvious shortage of knights with training sufficient enough to tutor another." Gaepora said shortly, in a tone that suggested he knew he did not have to explain himself, but was graciously doing so anyway.

As well as filing the term "hero" away for later consideration, although hearing Link referred to in that way made his insides twist, Groose began silently reviewing the events of the day. The fact that the girl had asked him for help mere _seconds_ before Gaepora confronted him told Groose that her, Link, and Gaepora had probably talked it over already. No doubt they had all schemed together before springing this upon him. Typical of everyone not to include him in the loop.

"What about the mine?" He finally spoke.

Where most of the students, with a few exceptions, had others providing funds for them, Groose had no such family to support him. The mine was how Groose paid for instruction and room at the academy; he spent every other half-day on the mountainous island south of Skyloft, splitting rocks with his hammer and mining the silver and other metals used by the Skyloftians for various purposes, and delivering them to Tern the silversmith.

"I have already spoken to Tern about sending one of the knights to take over your workload. In the time before Link and Amelia are off again, you are excused from your duties. I expect your time to be solely devoted to teaching Amelia the basics of swordplay, focusing on self-defense. Treat her like you were treated as a new student."

Gaepora had an answer for everything it seemed, and considering Groose was being threatened with expulsion, he couldn't really do much about refusing the headmaster's offer.

"I'll do it." He muttered.

Gaepora smiled a rather irritating smile and Groose turned, stomping outside. A headache had smoldered to life, pounding in his temples. Feeling his anger rising, he ground his palms against his eyes until little white flickers of light exploded in the darkness behind his eyelids. _Teach this scrawny girl how to use a sword..._ He thought. _Yeah right._

He paused before approaching the tree, taking a moment to compose himself as much as he could. The idea occurred to him, that if he made an effort, there was the chance he could turn being blackmailed into an opportunity to get some information out of Amelia, and see if she would share any information about Link's, and apparently her own, mysterious mission. He would have to act somewhat civil in order to get her to talk to him. A feat, but with an outcome perhaps worth the effort.

Amelia turned at the sound of his approach and quickly scrambled to her feet. They stood before each other, silent as both sized the other up. With ever-growing disgust Groose eyed her delicate features and scrawny figure, noting just how little muscle she had. She was in for a rude awakening if she expected to get through his training easily.

"I changed my mind. I'll teach you all I know about swordplay an' defending yourself."

"You will teach me to use a sword?" Groose caught an excited glimmer in her eyes before she turned her attention to her hair, toying with the braid draped over her shoulder. She clearly struggled to appear nonchalant, though the eagerness in her voice betrayed her. "When will we start?"

"Bright and early tomorrow mornin'." He said curtly, before swiveling around and leisurely wandering towards the academy.

XXX

Back in his room, Groose gave in to the grin he had struggled to hold back. Despite attempting to act like she could care less, the girl was clearly enthused by the prospect of learning how to fight. Very enthused. This knowledge made Groose's grin deepen as his mind raced with ideas on how he might be able to use that eagerness against her.

Swiping a hand over his messy desk, he cleared a space and sat at his desk. Grabbing a pad of paper, he flipped to an empty page, grabbed a pencil stub, and started to scribble the beginnings of what was going to be a very long list.

* * *

Over the eastern edge of Skyloft, darkness was thinning to pale violet when Groose strode through the academy the next morning and stopped in front of Zelda's room and banged on the door once with his fist. Trying again and receiving no response, he twisted the handle and threw open the door, flooding the room with pale lamplight.

"Get up."

The young girl blinked at him, crinkly eyed, then dragged a blanket up to cover her head.

"If you don't get up, I'll have t' come in there an' pull you out."

The blanket went flying, and Groose almost chuckled hearing her jumping to her feet as he pulled the door back shut.

XXX

He tried to wait patiently but it seemed ages before she emerged from the room. "Will we wake before dawn every morning?" She yawned, her movements slow as she pulled a thin, green scarf around her neck, knotting it at her front.

Groose frowned at the baggy shirt she was wearing, recognizing it as Zelda's. On Zelda, it looked beautiful. On Amelia it hung shapelessly around her body, nearly reaching her knees. Although he couldn't identify the brown trousers she wore as belonging to Zelda or not, the fabric bagged at the knees, and bunched where she had tucked the legs into the tops of her boots. She had cinched the sword belt around her waist and wore the sword in the scabbard, though Groose noticed the weight of it dragged at her and she kept attempting to hoist the belt up as it slipped a few inches.

"Get used to it." He answered gruffly. "We'll have t' make the most of our time."

She yawned again, and fell silent. As they walked together downstairs Groose struggled to keep his expression from reflecting the disgust he felt as he eyed the girl out of the corner of his eye. They made their way to the dining hall, where aromas of baking bread and spices wafted through the open doorway of the kitchen. The academy cooks had started preparing breakfast.

Leaving the girl at a table in the corner of the room, Groose swiped a mug from the cupboard in the kitchen and filled it to the brim from the large, green kettle resting on the back table. "Drink up. You'll need it." He ordered, bringing the mug back carefully and setting it in front of her. Amelia took the cup, sniffing at the steaming liquid suspiciously. "It'll help you keep your energy up while you're trainin'." He said impatiently, finding himself annoyed by her hesitation.

She blinked at the tea with sudden recognition. "This is stamina tea. Link had some of this yesterday. He said it helped to heal injuries."

"That's right. Did Link get injured?" Groose questioned after a moment, trying hard to sound genuinely concerned as opposed to thirsty for information.

"Yes." The girl looked grave, but frustratingly offered no details. Instead she picked up the mug, took a small sip, and made a face, forcing the liquid down with what looked like considerable effort.

Groose scanned the room, making an effort to avoid eye contact with the few students trickling into the room who were also early to breakfast. He was growing steadily more conscious of the eyes he felt on him and Amelia. He hadn't even considered what the other students might think of them apparently getting along all of the sudden.

Not that it mattered, Groose reminded himself. Being the topic of whispered gossip for a while would be worth it if it meant he got to the bottom of what was going on with Link, Zelda, this strange girl, and the pillar of lights in the sky.

"Drink it all. You'll need th' energy." He repeated gruffly, noticing her toying with the handle of the mug instead of drinking the tea.

Her expression twisted. "It's bitter."

Spotting Stritch and Cawlin enter the room, Groose abruptly shoved back his chair and stood up. "Hurry up and drink that. You can eat later."

"Later after what?" She asked, looking a bit worried. She had clearly noticed the smirk Groose was trying to hide.

Groose ignored her question and skirted the table as he hurried towards his friends. "Cawlin, Stritch. I need you two t' do somethin'."

"Well, well, well. What else is new?" Cawlin glared at Groose from behind his dark hair. "Something else that involves getting us in huge trouble?"

"No, nothin' like that." Groose snapped, glancing over his shoulder to gauge how many students might be listening in on their conversation. The room was beginning to fill up. "Not unless you get caught again, which would be your own fault."

"Uh huh." Cawlin crossed his arms around his chest, his gaze still stony. "You know what our punishment is for helping you steal Link's bird?"

"Pulling weeds every day at the Lumpy Pumpkin. For two weeks!" Stritch butted in indignantly. "During class time! Which m-means we'll probably fall behind!"

"Because of you." Cawlin emphasized.

Groose was growing impatient. He didn't want to be seen hanging around Cawlin and Stritch longer than necessary right now, in case anyone else began to connect the three of them to the various shenanigans that had gone down lately. He couldn't really think of a worse punishment than having to spend his time with the child who had fallen out of the sky, but he wouldn't put it past Gaepora to think of something. "All you gotta do is go through Link's room and look for anythin' suspicious. It's important okay?"

"Why don't _you_ do it?" Cawlin demanded, and recrossed his arms.

"Y-yeah!" Stritch agreed, wringing his hands nervously as his high-pitched voice cracked. Attempting to be assertive was clearly taking a toll on him. "D-do it yourself!"

"I'm busy!" Groose complained. "I'm sure you've heard by now that Gaepora's got me trainin' Link's pipsqueak friend."

"Yeah, what of it? It was because Gaepora found out that you made us hide Link's bird, right? I told you that was a bad idea." Cawlin chided, shaking his head. "Serves you right, you know."

"Totally! That was...s-stupid!" Stritch agreed. The poor lad's hands were shaking with the effort of maintaining composure.

Groose rolled his eyes, then caught sight of Amelia dropping her empty mug in the dishes bucket by the kettle. She met his gaze across the room, and Groose sucked in a long breath through his nose, letting it out in a huff. "Fine then. I don't have time to deal with cowards anyways."

"Have a blast training. Maybe you'll be able to convince that brat to be your replacement lackey." Cawlin called after him.

"Y-yeah! Replacement!" Stritch added.

Groose shook his head. "Idiots." He muttered.

"Who was that?" Amelia asked as he walked up.

"Did you drink your tea?" He countered.

"Yes." Amelia stared at him, obviously assuming there was no way he could prove her claims otherwise. Groose's gaze flickered to the potted plant in the corner by the tea kettle. The plant's leaves seemed to be faintly glowing in a shade of green more vibrant than usual, and he bet anything that if he stuck his hand in the soil, it'd still be warm from the tea he was certain she hadn't finished. Oh well. She'd be sorry later.

"Get going." He gestured to the doorway.

"Will we now learn how to fight with a sword?" She asked as they left the building and stood on the doorstep.

Groose sighed. The girl was completely oblivious. "It takes years to learn everything that they teach us here at th' academy. It's gonna take you a lot longer than a few days t' even scratch th' surface, and you can't just jump into swordplay without gettin' the basic stuff out of th' way first."

"So what will we do now?" She asked, squinting in the golden light of the rising sun.

"Stamina building." Groose announced. "If you tried goin' up against...well...pretty much anything, you would probably get knocked out in a heartbeat." She started to make an indignant sound and Groose glared down at her. "You're sayin' you'd be able to hold your own against an enemy?"

"Well, no but...I think all I need is to learn how to use this." She said as she awkwardly gestured to the sword at her side.

Groose blinked, trying his best to push down the growing desire to demand why a young girl suddenly needed to learn these skills, and why she was so set on learning how to use a sword in particular. "Right. Well, we'll get to that but we have to start with the basics first." He said, after a moment. "All I'm sayin', is that if you want t' be able t' hold out against someone attackin' you, you need t' build up strength first, okay? Some endurance."

"Okay, sounds reasonable." She nodded.

"So first..." Groose paused for dramatic effect, grinning at the impatience he saw in her gaze. "You'll start the day with a run, following the path around the outside of Skyloft, t' build some muscle in your legs and improve your lung capacity."

She was staring at him, her expression confused.

"A good knight has the endurance t' stay in battle for as long as it takes, without keelin' over." Groose explained. "Runnin' will help you be able t' do that." He wasn't lying. As grueling as it was, starting and ending the day with concentrated exercise did wonders for building the physical strength and endurance of the knights. A combination of prolonged physical activity and usage of stamina tea seemed to help the body adapt and strengthen in the fastest way possible. Not that it was any fun at all. But it did work.

"You wish me to run?" Amelia's voice was incredulous. "For how long?"

Groose's only response was a glare. When it became apparent to her that he didn't have anything else to say to her, she slowly slid the sword off her back and leaned it against the academy steps. Reluctantly, she broke into a slow jog, heading down the dirt road toward the heart of Skyloft.

"Bet you wish you drank your tea now, don't you?" Groose muttered after her, chuckling with amusement as he remembered his very first day of running. She was going to be terribly sore in a while.

As he settled himself on the steps, a few students coming in from Skyloft gave Groose a curious look as they passed by. He wasn't one to skip classes; in fact, this would be the first time he had missed a single class since he started at the academy. Having to train Amelia meant he was missing the chance to get ahead of Link while he was injured, which was slightly irritating.

However, the sight of her already exhausted figure meandering along as she approached on her first return lap almost made up for it. She did not speak to him, but her pained expression said it all.

Groose could barely contain his amusement. "You're not done. Get going, pipsqueak." He waved his hand at her, his grin deepening as she started off again. Maybe training her wouldn't be completely awful. Chuckling to himself, Groose pulled the thick book he had taken from Instructor Horwell's classroom and opened the pages filled with records of every single creature ever known to the inhabitants of Skyloft, both past and present. Flipping over to the very last section of the book, he gazed at the descriptions of the monstrous creatures.

Bokoblin. Keese. Octorock. All these monsters might have one time existed on the Surface. They still might be there. If so, and if Groose's suspicious were correct and the Surface _was_ where Link and Amelia had traveled to the other day, then there was no wonder the girl wanted to learn how to use a sword so badly. The monsters depicted in the pages were all sharp teeth and long talons, evil eyes and vicious snarls. A shudder ran down his spine at the thought of encountering one of these creatures first hand.

"Surely this is enough running." Amelia limped over and flopped down on the steps beside him, breathing heavily.

"You're not done until I say you're done." Groose snapped, prodding at her with his boot until she flinched and got to her feet. "How am I supposed t' teach someone who won't be able t' swing a sword for more than a few seconds? You gotta get strong first!"

Amelia swallowed, her pained expression turning to one of displeasure. She regarded him for a moment, her brow furrowing, then turned and started her third lap, arms pumping, and the light of the rising sun glinting off the sweat on her forehead and throat.

"Better get used to it." Groose muttered, going back to his book.

Two more laps passed by, with surprisingly no complaint. Although, Groose noticed Amelia struggling to appear like she wasn't completely exhausted, straightening her back and holding her head up every time she ran past him, only to slump back down when she thought she was out of view. But she kept running.

As she passed the academy for a fifth time, Groose stood, leaving his books and bag on the stairs. He went to the kitchens, grabbing a few leftover bread rolls and fruit and tossing them in a small pouch. He thought to pour another cup of tea - the stamina tea kettle was kept warm and full for the duration of the day - but settled on dipping a larger mug into the water pail.

Once outside again, he waited beside the river, a few feet away from the bridge that connected both areas of Skyloft.

"Take your sword," he said once Amelia ran up. She took the sheath from him and dropped herself to the ground without a word. A thin sheen of sweat covered her arms and face, and it was a few moments before she could finally say anything.

"We are finally... learning how to use a sword?" She asked, wiping her brow with her forearm and eagerly accepting the water Groose held out.

Groose stared suspiciously at her brightening expression as she drank the water and began to chew her way through the fruit and sweet bread rolls he passed over. She seemed to be recovering quickly, and didn't look as nearly as exhausted as he had been the very first time he had been made to run laps. On his first day, he, like her, had refused to drink the bitter stamina tea, and by time he finished running he had to take a good hour to recover. A small smear of green on one of her cheeks caught his attention.

"Did you... did you eat a stamina fruit?"

"You did not tell me I couldn't." She mumbled as she stuffed the rest of the bread in her mouth, chewing vigorously.

Groose was annoyed that he hadn't thought of doing that, way back when he had struggled to run laps. Although, he couldn't help but admit he was very slightly impressed by her resourcefulness. "Using the fruit is fine." He said. "But th' tea is more concentrated, and it really helps so you should drink it next time."

As Amelia swallowed her last mouthful of fruit, she stood up and reached for her sword. Awkwardly, she pulled it out of the sheath and held it out towards Groose. "I am ready." She said.

"First of all, you never hand someone a sword like that," Groose said gruffly, staying well out of the way until she lowered her blade. "You hold it by the flat side, handle pointing away from you, like any kind of knife. Got it? An' you better. It's common sense."

In answer she slowly flipped her sword around, cautiously holding the flat part of the blade and passing it, handle first, out to him.

Groose passed it back the same way. "Alright, now swing your sword, as if there were an enemy standing in front of you."

She stepped a few feet back and grasped the blade in both hands, bracing her feet before grunting and swinging the sword in a wide arc from left to right.

"Again." Groose watched carefully as she struggled to swing the blade, her cheeks puffing as she made a horizontal slash, then attempted a thrusting motion. She nearly lost her balance as the blade pulled her forward. Groose's brow furrowed. The academy sword was clearly too big for her to use properly.

"Alright... Let's pretend you actually know how t' use a sword. What do you do if you somehow lose your weapon while in the middle of getting attacked?" Groose took her sword and tossed it casually to the side. It bounced a bit and landed on the grass with a soft rustle.

"I would retrieve it?" Amelia started towards the sword. Groose snorted and picked it up before she could, then turned and threw it into the river. The sword sank rapidly, small bubbles glittering and racing upwards to the surface of the flowing water. Amelia crinkled her nose and eyed the water.

Groose crossed his arms and ignore her sulky glare as he displeased gaze shifted to him. "Say your enemy now has your sword. What do you do?"

"I would run."

"An' what if you can't run away?"

The girl shrugged. "I do not know."

Groose sighed, already feeling exasperated wit the child, and it was barely past sunup. "Runnin' would be a last resort. In most cases, you would use whatever you can. A backup weapon, but sometimes your limbs. Your fists. Your forearms, and your elbows."

"What if the enemy can materialize out of thin air with no warning?" Amelia spoke quietly, and stared at her sword.

"Did you meet an enemy like that?" Groose jumped at the opportunity to pry. "Is that why you want t' learn how t' use a sword?"

"Yes. There was an enemy like that."

Groose almost groaned aloud with frustration at her vague response. He wanted to take her shoulders and shake her until the answers to all the questions he had came spilling out. Instead, he took a deep breath and turned away, taking a few strides towards the river.

"Look pipsqueak, that sword is not goin' to-"

He never got the chance to finish his sentence because two small hands were suddenly pushing at his back with surprising force. The brat was trying to push him into the river! Groose very nearly went toppling headfirst into the water, but managed to sidestep. Twisting his body, he grabbed Amelia by the arm and threw her forward with a little more force than was necessary as he regained his footing on the soft sandy bank.

Millions of tiny bubbles clouded the water as, coughing violently and snorting water out of her nose, she thrashed to the surface, spluttering.

"Retrieve your sword." Groose's voice may have sounded calm, but inside, he was seething. Sullenly, Amelia turned and waded out to the middle of the moderately flowing river, which nearly reached her chin. She wisely choose not to speak and submerged herself completely, kicking her feet up as she swam for the bottom.

"Dry yourself and meet me back at the academy." He told her as she resurfaced, gasping and holding her sword. "And be prepared to learn how t' properly knock somebody off balance."

"It would have worked if you were not so big." He heard her mutter. Water streamed off her clothes as she crawled onto the dirt and lay there with the dripping sword in her hand. As much as he wanted to fire a retort back at the girl, Groose nudged the empty sword sheath towards her with the toe of his boot.

"Leave your sword in your room." He said, before leaving her laying at the edge of the river.

XXX

He gathered his books, satchel, and Amelia's empty water cup before returning to the academy, still seething at her attempt to sabotage him. At the same time he couldn't help but be amused at how she actually thought she'd be able to get away with it. _For such a puny brat, she's brave,_ he thought to himself, and chuckled a little as he dumped the books on his bed and sat at his desk. His notebook was open and ready to be written in where he had left off.

While he waited for Amelia, Groose continued working on his list, crossing off the top two items: _**make her run**_ , and: _**figure out if she's going to be able to use a sword**_ _._ He added to the bottom, _**find a suitable weapon**_ _,_ and _**work on strength and agility**_ _,_ before switching to the very back page and recording on the paper what little information he had gathered from his conversations with the girl. **S** _ **trange enemies with advanced abilities.**_

The brat was taking too long. She was probably still sulking on the riverbank, he thought, and half debated going out and fetching her. Instead, he grabbed Instructor Horwell's book from the pile on the bed and flipped to the monster section again. He was growing more and more certain that Amelia and Link had indeed traveled to the Surface and were planning to go back. It would make sense for the pillar of light in the sky to serve as a beacon marking a location beneath the clouds. It would also make sense why Gaepora was so adamant that Amelia be trained on how to defend herself. The headmaster would be familiar with the creatures recorded in the pages of the books Groose had swiped.

To kill some time while he continued to wait, Groose made a chart of sorts, filling it in with the names of creatures, and sorting them by whether they had claws or sharp teeth, or both, as well as their size and build. The information would come in handy later if and when Groose was able to get Amelia to confess whether the Surface was where they had gone. This way, he should easily be able to determine what sorts of weapon and strategies would be best to deal with each potential monster should she and Link run into them later. By the time he had about fifteen different creatures analyzed and organized in his notebook, Amelia came trudging through the open doorway and into his room.

"Took you long enough."

"I had stopped to talk to Link." Amelia pulled at the shoulders of the dry cotton shirt she wore. She was barefoot; Groose assumed her boots were drying.

"And?" Groose inquired, pretending to be occupied with his books.

"He plans to leave tomorrow. Are we going to be using that? Is that what we're here for?" She pointed at Groose's punchbag in the corner of the room. "What does this have to do with learning how to fight with a sword?"

Groose felt his eye twitch. The sound of her voice was growing steadily more irritating. "If you had been paying attention earlier, we were talkin' about what happens if you lose your weapon during a fight."

"Yes, I remember."

Groose rolled his eyes as he pushed back his chair and stood to face her. "Hit it." He demanded, gesturing at the punchbag.

Amelia hesitated, then nodded and curled her fingers into a loose fist. She hit the side of the bag and made the slightest of impacts.

"You just hit your attacker like that, you think that's gonna do much damage?" Groose snapped. "You want t' disable whatever's attacking you as soon as possible. If you want t' knock someone out, aim for th' throat. Go for th' more sensitive areas, like th' sides of th' neck. This'll make it harder for them t' breathe, and maybe give you enough time t' get out of that situation."

Amelia faltered, and looked confused.

"Try again." Groose said with forced patience as he reached over to hold the bag steady.

She struck the bag.

"Keep your thumb on the outside, or it'll break." Groose scowled.

She struck the bag again.

"Better... but you want t' put more swing into it."

Drawing her arm back, the girl swung at the bag, her movements awkward.

"You might not always have that much room! Try again, but take up less room with your arm." Groose continued to hold the bag straight. "And remember that if you're in a fight, whatever you're fightin' is gonna be fightin' back." He pushed the bag forwards, causing her to stumble backward. "Adjust your weight so that if this happens, you can dodge or recover faster. Put your weight on your toes." He ordered, swinging the bag at her again. She jumped out of the way this time and eyed him warily.

"Again." Groose demanded.

Creeping forward, she struck the bag with her fist, hard and fast.

"Better." Groose grudgingly allowed. "But you really think that whatever you're fighting isn't gonna learn quick where you're aiming, if all you go for is the same spot? Your opponent'll go anywhere they can try t' knock you down!" Groose swung the punching bag forward quickly, catching Amelia in her stomach and knocking her backward to the floor. She landed with an "Oof!"

"You gotta be prepared. You're small, so you can use that to your advantage. Wait for an attack, then dodge and counter while they're still going through the motions, or run away. You gotta judge the situation." Groose pushed the bag, letting it swing back and forth between his hands. "If whatever's attacking you has sharp claws and teeth as well as a weapon, there are even more things to look out for. If that's the case, your bare hands aren't gonna help you much and you'd be better off running and hiding. At least until you can find a weapon."

Amelia stared up at him from the floor. "This really hurts my hands."

"Not knowing how t' defend yourself an' getting injured because of it would hurt a lot more." Groose countered. She sighed heavily, and Groose could tell she was getting frustrated. Getting her frustrated wasn't the way to go if he wanted to get on her good side. He let go of the punching bag, and dusted off his hands. "You know…" He paused, swallowing back the disgust caused by saying something nice to her. "At least you're gettin' better."

She stared at him uneasily, as if gauging whether or not he was being genuinely kind.

"Yeah. For such a little pipsqueak, at least you've got some determination." He continued, almost feeling bad about making up nice words he didn't entirely mean. "That's what makes th' best fighters, you know. The ones who keep tryin'."

Amelia picked herself up off the floor and faced the punchbag, a hint of a smile creeping across her face. "Soon those Bokobins won't stand a chance." She whispered and threw a punch forward while Groose watched her and struggled to maintain a neutral expression.

 _Bokoblins. They really had been to the Surface._ Groose bet anything the Surface was where they were returning to.

"You've done good." He finally said, after letting the girl go at the bag a few moments more. "I think we can leave it at that for now. You can have the rest of the day off, and I'll see you tomorrow bright and early."

Amelia let her hands drop to her side and stared at the punchbag. "Am I really getting stronger?"

"Absolutely." Groose forced a wide grin. "Any monsters you run into are gonna be the ones runnin', once I'm through with trainin' you."

She grinned back, showing her teeth, and made to leave the room, hesitating in the doorway.

"I am sorry for trying to push you in the river." She added before leaving the room, a noticeable spring in her step.

Groose made sure she was far down the hallway before slamming his door shut and locking it. Standing there, he stared hard at the pile of books on his bed, all filled with theories and various notes about the Surface.

 _It really did exist._ _The Surface was real. Was that where Zelda had disappeared too?_ He wondered. Groose knew it was highly likely that if Link was concerned, then Zelda was involved _somehow_. But why was this young girl travelling with Link too? Why were they going all alone?

 _Why wasn't all of Skyloft out there, searching for Zelda?_

* * *

He stayed up with his books and notes so late that it was much harder to get up in the morning than usual. Groose swallowed back several yawns on his way towards Zelda's room. Surprisingly, he only had to knock twice before the door opened and Amelia appeared, her boots already on her feet and her sword belt around her waist.

"Will we learn how to fight with a weapon today?" She asked eagerly as they walked to the dining hall.

"Actually, you're not going to be using a sword." Groose announced. "It's too big for you and you'd never be able to use it properly. Today we're gonna go over what t' do in difficult situations concerning Loftwings, seeing as you'll probably be riding them a lot going forward." Noticing a sudden absence at his side he stopped walking and glanced over his shoulder, where Amelia had frozen.

"You said you would teach me everything!" Her voice had risen in pitch and her eyes had grown huge.

Groose rushed over to her, ignoring the stares from the students walking in the hall as he grabbed her by the arm and towed her into the dining hall in hopes of avoiding a scene. "What I meant was, you're going to be using a different weapon."

Amelia seemed not to hear his words, and looked positively wounded. She sat heavily at one of the dining room tables and propped her head in her hands. Groose rolled his eyes at her melodrama and left her sitting at the table while he grabbed a mug of tea and, from the breakfast table, a couple of heart fruits along with some bread rolls and a chunk of fresh cheese all on a plate.

"What good is learning how t' use a weapon that's going t' hold you back?" He spoke finally, throwing the plate and mug in front of her. "Were you not listening t' anything I was saying? The academy swords are too big for you. They're meant t' be a single handed weapon, but it takes you two just t' lift the thing."

Her fingers crept up to fiddle with the fabric of her scarf.

"Having a weapon you can't even use isn't going t' help you any." Groose added. "I have something else for you to use. But we have a few other things t' cover first. Since you're leavin' later today. I can only show you so much now; the rest will have t' wait until you get back."

Amelia remained silent and stared into the mug of tea she held in her hands.

Groose picked at a bread roll, absently raising it to his mouth as he studied the child. "What are you so scared about?" He demanded, genuinely curious about what was going through her head.

"I am not scared."

Groose shrugged as he picked up a soft heart fruit and rolled it gently between his hands. "I bet there are plenty of good reasons to be scared, down there on the Surface."

A slosh of tea spilled over the rim as Amelia let it drop from her hands and onto the table. She reached for the bread and began to devour it as if it was the first time she had eaten in days. "Have you ever been there?" She asked between bites, and met his eyes.

"I haven't been there. No one in Skyloft has been there." Groose frowned. "We didn't even know it existed. Gaepora told me a bit about what you two saw down there, when he asked me t' train you." He lied.

"Did Gaepora... speak anything of me? Did he speak to you of the prophecy?"

"Prophecy?" Groose took a bite of fruit, wiping away the juice that trickled down his chin.

"The prophecy of the youth chosen by the goddess, and the fated child?" Amelia continued, and crammed the rest of the cheese in her mouth. "Did Gaepora speak of me? Did he reveal anything the prophecy may have said?"

 _Gonna get damn indigestion,_ Groose thought, watching her eat ravenously. And then, _There's a prophecy, and that shrimpy knight_ _is in it?_ His thoughts raced a mile a minute with this new information. _This_ BRAT _is in it too, but not me? Unbelievable._

"Meet me outside when you're done." He said hollowly as he stood, pushing his chair back. "And leave th' sword in your room. We're not goin' to' be using it."

XXX

Amelia was sitting on the front steps, looking dejected with her chin back in her hands when Groose returned. He circled over the academy a few times on his Loftwing, which had a tuft of feathers on its head resembling Groose's own pompadour.

She stood and squinted up at him, rubbing her eyes. "Why do you have your bird?"

"We're goin' over how to ride Loftwings." He said as he landed a few feet in front of her.

"Oh...I don't really want to." She sounded uncomfortable.

"You're going to need t' know some basic commands. Get on." Groose demanded, gesturing behind himself.

"You promised to teach me self-defense. It was supposed to be with a sword!" She nearly shouted.

"There's a lot more t' self-defense than knowing how t' use a sword." He shouted back. "Gaepora told me to treat you like a student at the academy, and one of th' first thing a knight in training learns is how to ride a Loftwing."

"You said you would teach me sword skills, but now I do not even have a weapon I can use." She looking genuinely distressed. "It seems I must try to teach myself."

Groose frowned. _Why_ was she so set on knowing how to use a sword in particular? Did she think he hadn't been teaching her anything useful? That he was just messing with her when he told her the academy swords were too big? Did she not realize that they were working with limited time, that training would have to come in chunks? Apparently not. He was irritated at the child's lack of cooperation. He wanted to teach her a lesson.

Groose rose into the air on his Loftwing. Circling the area once, he tilted forward in a steep dive.

Amelia yelped as he reached out and grabbed her by the arm, and she kicked her legs as her feet left the ground and they rose higher in the sky. "Put me down!" She shrieked as Groose leaned into a wide turn and used the momentum to pull her up and sit her down in front of him. The girl immediately straddled the Loftwing, her stomach flush against its feathers and her arms wrapped around the bird's neck. Her eyes screwed shut as Groose pressed his heels into the Loftwing's side, commanding it to rise. Within seconds they were shooting away from Skyloft, impossibly fast. Amelia was quick to bury her face against the Loftwing, muffling another shriek as the wind howled in Groose's ears.

He drew the reins back slightly and the Loftwing leveled out, stretching its wings to keep them suspended in the sky. When she realized they were no longer flying at breathtaking speeds, Amelia raised her face and straightened up slightly, her hands clutching at the Loftwing's feathers. Suddenly she let loose a wail, and Groose nearly jumped out of his seat.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Take me back!" Her nails dug into his skin as she twisted her body and clutched at his arm.

"I need to steer!" He shouted, shaking her off. "And no, we're not going back to Skyloft! Sorry, but you're not gettin' out of this one."

"My scarf is gone! I was w-wearing it but now it is missing. We have to find it! We have to go find it!" She insisted, her voice cracking and her eyes watering as the cold wind whipped around the hair that had come loose from her braid.

Groose wasn't falling for it, and was also getting pretty fed up by her efforts to dodge this lesson. "I'm trying my best t' be reasonable here. You clearly don't like being in the air. I take it you're really bad at flying or don't have much experience, since you came falling out of the sky on my head, but I'm tryin' t' teach you how t' ride a Loftwing properly so it gets easier."

"No, you do not understand-" She started blubbering something else, which Groose ignored as he did a quick sweep of the sky to make sure the area was clear.

"Hang on." He said sharply as he pulled both reins to the side, sending them into the beginnings of a loose, downward spiral. "The Loftwing will take care of everything for you." He shouted over the wind as they came out of their dive and began rising again. "You just have t' direct them with the reins. It's really easy. And if for some reason somethin' happens to the reins, you can direct the bird with your feet, but also by holdin' onto their feathers. Here, you try." Groose tried reaching around and handing her the reins but Amelia wasn't having it.

"I do not even have a weapon I can use, and now my scarf is gone." She wailed. "It would have been better if I had never asked for help!"

Groose was fed up with her nonsense. Instructor Horwell and Owlan would never tolerate any knight mouthing off or trying to get out of lessons. The brat needed to learn that she was a pupil now, no matter how much either of them hated it.

As he maneuvered his Loftwing higher, Groose was barely able to make out what she was saying as Amelia prattled on; she was growing more and more hysterical by the minute.

"Alright," he muttered when they were quite high above the cloud barrier. Skyloft and the other floating islands around them looked small and distant from this height. "Advanced lesson number one."

Groose did one last check to make sure the air was clear before he gave Amelia a firm shove. She tumbled off the Loftwing with a screech, her surprised hands grabbing at empty air. Waiting until her scream was carried away by the wind, Groose directed his bird to dive after her. It took seconds to catch up, and when he could see her face, Groose fought against the tearing wind to maneuver his bird within arms reach of the terrified girl.

"Listen up. First rule about falling though the sky is you don't close your eyes and you don't look down. You assume the skydiving position with your belly facin' down, and you remain calm. Keep watchin' t' see where your Loftwing is as it comes back t' get you." He reached out and grasped her arm, earning another shriek as he caught her and swung her back onto the Loftwing. They went soaring upwards again, the Loftwing letting out a screech that sounded uncannily like the hysterical cries of the girl clinging to the harness.

"You-you are terrible." Amelia hiccuped as her hands grabbed at his arms in a panic. Groose saw that she looked like she was going to be sick. It was a good thing he had the foresight to make her drink ginger tea.

"Let's see if you learned anythin'." Groose pushed her off again. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying her terror, just a little bit.

This time she managed to twist her body so that she was parallel with the cloud barrier, looking up at him over her shoulder as he dove after her. "That's it!" Groose shouted. "Your eyes aren't closed and you're lookin' up. That's all you gotta do if you're ever falling. Your Loftwing will dive after you right away, so all you have t' do is wait until it's close enough, then grab onto it. It'll even grab you itself with its talons if you're havin' trouble."

He held his hand out, but Amelia batted it away with her closed fist, a look of intense dislike trumping the nausea all over her face. The girl was clearly afraid of flying, or heights, or maybe even the sky in general, who knew. Groose had just forced her into the environment where she felt she had the least control; he couldn't say he blamed her for being upset.

Apparently she decided she had enough of being dropped, because when Groose finally plucked her out of the sky she latched onto his neck in a death grip, clinging to his back. He could feel her shaking, with fear or anger he wasn't sure.

"Alright, alright. No more dropping." He muttered, directing his Loftwing to fly slower through the sky.

They landed on a small island with a single scraggly tree, some grass, and not much else. The moment they touched down Amelia staggered off of the Loftwing, fell on her stomach and retched into the grass. Groose looked on with disgust.

"How could you do that?" She asked shakily, wiping a hand across her mouth and making no move to get up. Her eyes were wide and she still looked terrified.

Briefly, Groose wondered if he had taken things too far. "Hmm, maybe because you're a brat?"

"You s-scared me and my scarf is gone!" She made an attempt to stand, but immediately collapsed, her legs apparently shaking too much to work properly.

"Why are you so upset? About a scarf?" Groose demanded, sliding off of his Loftwing and stepping over to her. "You probably left it inside the academy. And anyways Iit's just a scarf. You can get a new one at the bazaar if you've got some rupees."

"It's gone and it's all your fault!" Her voice cracked and she turned her face away.

Groose stood there, shaking his head and contemplated if graduating as a knight at the academy was really worth having to deal with hysterics, and this child in general. He was just about to check on his Loftwing when she spoke, her voice slightly calmer.

"It was a gift. It was all I had left to remember them by."

Groose stopped and turned back. "Remember who by?" He asked after a moment. This was one instance he felt like he was prying in a way that made him uncomfortable, but at the same time he felt he should say something. The young girl appeared to be genuinely upset.

She turned to him then and her face was wet, her too-big eyes swollen. Her voice wobbled but she held his gaze, her bottom lip trembling. "It once belonged to someone who traded their life for mine."

She looked away and pushed herself to her feet, and Groose watched her slowly wander over to the tree on the other side of the small island.

The gravity of her words hit him all at once, and he realized how upset she must have been to cry like that, with trails of tears and snot running down her reddened face. Whatever had happened with the person who the scarf had belonged to, it must still effect her greatly. She was just a child, after all.

Suddenly, he felt terrible for what he had done to her in the sky.

The horizon began to lighten further; brilliant rays streamed over the horizon and shot into the clouds. Groose blinked. Another pillar of light, this one a vivid red color, had began to materialize in front of the rising sun, seeming almost transparent at first, but growing more solid each second.

Amelia noticed it too, as she looked up from where she had sat with her back against the tree trunk. "It looks like Link has placed the tablet in the goddess statue." She said quietly, her words muffled as she used the sleeve of her sweater to wipe her face.

"Tablet?"

She took a deep breath and sniffed. "That beacon there," she nodded to the light pillar, "Means that time is up and you have taught me nothing useful." Her face contorted a bit, but she managed to hold back her emotion well this time.

"If you didn't learn _anything_ useful, then you clearly weren't paying attention t' a word I said." Groose snorted.

She looked over at him tiredly, and watched as he reached into the pouch attached to the Loftwing's harness and carefully pulled out the long dagger he had picked out from the academy weapon room. As he walked over to her he pulled the blade out of the sheath to display the metal.

Amelia stared at the blade and wiped her eyes. "What is this?"

Groose shoved the dagger back into its sheath. "Think of it as a mini sword. It's much easier t' handle for one, and it's also easier t' conceal. If you're in a tough spot and can remember to wait for an openin', it just might save your life in close-range combat."

"It its so...small." She was clearly trying hard not to sound disappointed, and Groose could tell she had still been hoping she would learn how to use a sword.

"Well, small can be an advantage. It's just... more fitting for you t' have a weapon that reflects your size." Feeling a bit awkward, Groose shoved the sheathed blade at her.

The girl took it and glanced up at Groose with something that might have been appreciation. "Will...will this actually protect me if I need it?"

"You'll be more protected with it than without it." Was all he could think to say as he realized that... she was afraid. Deep down she was genuinely scared. But of what? Whatever she had encountered on the Surface? Whatever she might encounter again?

"But I do not know how to use it."

Seeing that fear in her eyes was causing a genuine, and uncomfortable desire to grow inside of Groose, a desire to actually help this girl. It was pretty uncharacteristic of him perhaps, but the clear worry on her face reminded him of all the times he had fears when he was younger, and how helpful it would have been for someone to help him work through them. Ignoring the uncomfortable feelings, he forced himself to focus on the task at hand, and what he wanted to get through before they ran out of time.

"We'll go more over how t' fight with that when you get back." He said, sitting close beside her and pulling out his book. "Here, I was workin' on this last night. I'll show you why your dagger would be more help than a sword in instances of runnin' into things like these..."

From the information he had been able to glean about the monsters, he explained that the most common ones, which seemed to have both sharp claws and sharp teeth, would have to get pretty close to attack. If she could dodge them, she'd easily be in range to use her small weapon. He showed her how to hide her dagger up her sleeve and how to whip it out for an effective counter or surprise attack.

"For now, if there's anythin'... bigger, your best bet is to probably let _Link_ take care of it. For now." He repeated. Amelia nodded, seemed to be paying attention for the most part. She did seem more fascinated with the written words rather then his spoken ones though, reaching over to run her fingers over the letters in the notebook.

"I cannot read them." Amelia mumbled. "But the words look beautiful."

A few minutes later as Groose refilled the Loftwing's saddle bag with the various apparatus he had brought, he thought back to her comment. He found it a bit strange that the child couldn't read, and made a note to include it in the 'information' page of his notebook later.

"We should return soon." Amelia said, walking up to the Loftwing and tentatively running her hand along its soft neck feathers. "The hero will wish to leave soon."

It was the second time Groose had heard someone refer to Link as a hero, but it was no less infuriating.

"Yep." Groose eyed the sky where the pillar of crimson light continued to glow. "Wouldn't want to keep _the hero_ waiting."

Amelia struggled onto the Loftwing behind him. They set off for Skyloft with the heat of the rising sun warming their backs.

XXX

 _The hero_ happened to be waiting near the diving platform that they landed on.

"Groose," Link regarded him warily, and held up a small pouch to Amelia, which Groose assumed contained provisions. "Ready to go?"

"I suppose." Amelia mumbled, her voice shaking slightly as she slid off the bird, pulling her dagger out from the saddlebag where Groose had stashed it. Not looking at Groose, she slid the sheath onto her belt and took the pouch from Link, slinging it over her shoulder. Quickly, she took Link's extended hand and climbed on the Loftwing, glancing back at Groose with a blank expression.

As they lifted into the air, Groose noticed how tightly Amelia's hands were knotted together around Link's middle. He frowned as he twisted himself to watch the Loftwing circle slowly overhead of Skyloft, gaining lift.

With a few downbeats of powerful, efficient bird wings, Link and Amelia were soon a speck in the sky, flying towards the red pillar of light.

Groose watched them until they disappeared from view, then rubbed both of his hands over his face, sighing heavily. Just because he was being forced to train her didn't mean the girl was his complete responsibility now, he told himself. Whether or not she got injured out there had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with Link now. He had no reason to care, he reflected, as he turned and walked in the direction of the academy. Within moments, his steps had slowed. His attempts at convincing himself were not working out so well.

Something about the girl's scared expression and nervous demeanor didn't sit right with him. Even Link had seemed subdued. The whole situation didn't seem right to Groose; if the Surface was so dangerous, then why were Link and this young girl the only ones going on this mission? Why weren't they being accompanied by trained knights? It didn't make any sense.

And for some reason, he couldn't get the image of Amelia's wounded expression out of his mind, and that was what was bothering him the most. She had lost something so very important to her, and it bothered him because he knew all too well what it was like to loose something that meant a great deal. It was the most awful, unbearable, empty feeling in the world and he wouldn't wish it upon anyone, even a bratty young girl who got on his nerves.

Gritting his teeth, Groose turned back towards the diving platform, his pace picking up until he was running. He dove off, whistling sharply, grabbing the harness and swinging himself onto the Loftwing's back when the bird appeared below him.

If it hadn't fallen through the sky and into the cloud barrier, there were only so many places her scarf could be.


	8. Chapter Eight

The ride towards the cloud barrier was pretty quiet, the wind whistling in Mia's ears as the gusts displaced her hair. The clouds were arranged into isolated shapes all piled up and gleaming against their bright blue background. She had to admit that it was beautiful up there, in the sky. She might have even enjoyed the ride, if it weren't for knowing that the Loftwing was all that prevented her from falling through miles of air.

The turmoil she felt at losing her scarf was not helping her to feel at ease. That scarf had been the only physical thing she had to remind her of the time she had spent in New Hyrule, and of Byrne, and what he had done for her. She had gotten so used to the fabric around her neck that its absence made her feel vulnerable somehow, and at that moment she missed the storyworld of New Hyrule more than anything. It was as if a small piece of her heart had gone along with the scarf, and that empty space ached.

The Loftwing took a gentle turn around a chunk of floating boulder as Link spoke, apparently trying to fill the silence with conversation. "How was...training with Groose?"

Mia felt herself tearing up again, more out of frustration than sadness. "He took me out on his Loftwing, said I should learn to ride one." She answered, while swallowing the stinging saltiness that had risen in the back of her throat.

"And how was that?"

Mia couldn't place the tone in Link's voice but he sounded tentative, like he wasn't sure it was a good idea to be asking. She remained silent, remembering the unpleasant flip-flopping of her stomach and the sounds of her own screams as she had fallen through the sky. The painful jerk in her arms as Groose caught her, only to throw her off again when her reactions weren't good enough. She bit into her bottom lip, growing more annoyed by the minute. Why couldn't he have taught her actual self-defense like she had asked? Like he had promised he would?

"I did not learn how to use a sword." Mia knew the frustration she felt was evident in her voice now and that she probably sounded whiny, but she didn't really care. All she had wanted was to learn enough so that Link wouldn't have to worry about her getting hurt, or getting in his way. She wanted to do more than she had in the forest; she wanted to do something to be a helpful travelling companion. Otherwise, what was even the point of her travelling with the chosen hero?

"But it is not as if you had time to learn everything. I'm sure he will teach you more when you get back." Link said.

Fi's voice cut through the air. "Master Link, we are nearing Eldin Volcano I suggest..."

Mia flinched suddenly as a high-pitched, keening sort of noise rang sharply in her ears, growing louder and drowning out Fi's emotionless voice. The wind began to pick up and Link snatched up the reins in both hands, his shoulders visibly tensing. Reacting to his nervousness, Mia gripped at the Loftwing's feathers, their softness only slightly reassuring.

Link turned to face her, and she felt her heart drop into her stomach at the fear in his expression. "The wind is getting pretty strong. I need you to-" A gust tore the words out of his mouth, and Mia barely managed to grab him around the waist as they were pelted with wind that couldn't possibly be natural. Link struggled to gain control of the Loftwing, which was furiously flapping its wings in an attempt to stay upright. Meanwhile, visions of falling through the sky were racing through Mia's head and she nearly choked on her own spit. Her stomach seized and she started shaking as her mind flashed back to the terror of being thrown from Groose's Loftwing just hours earlier, and being convinced she was going to die.

At that moment, the Loftwing slammed into a floating chunk of rock with a screech and they were both knocked off of the bird. Mia shrieked, but the noise was ripped from her throat as she suddenly found herself falling, falling, falling. She felt herself start to sob as all she could do was focus on maneuvering herself into a skydiving position, her belly down and her arms spread on either side.

She heard Link yelling something and saw a flash of green through the hair flying wildly around her face. He was falling beside her. She reached out for him, and he grabbed her arm.

"W-where is your bird?" Mia whimpered, barely managing to choke the words out. "Is it coming back?"

"Master Link!" Fi spoke urgently. "It appears as though you will reach the Surface in a very short amount of time. I strongly suggest utilizing your sailcloth at this time, as a drop from this height could inflict great harm."

"Listen to me, we are too close to the cloud barrier for the Loftwing to help us now." Link was fumbling in his belt. His tunic was flapping around, his chain-mail was clanking, and his hat looked close to flying off his head. Mia saw that his pouches had come unfastened; a few things spilled out and were taken by the wind. "You need to hold on, and you can't let go!"

Mia managed to grip him around the waist before her body went totally numb. She could feel a chilly dampness on her skin as water droplets splashed her cheek. They were falling through the clouds.

Link shouted something again but his voice sounded far away, and she felt her heart almost leap out of her chest as the fabric of the sailcloth billowed over their heads. They were immediately caught by the wind and their descent slowed. But not by enough, she realized, as something red and rocky appeared through the thinning clouds. _We're too close. We're too close to the ground!_

She gritted her teeth as they hit hard, a landing that sent up showers of red dirt and sharp pebbles. They slammed into what felt like a large rock and she lost her grip on Link and became flipped onto her front, her face scraping along the ground until she finally slowed to a stop.

She lay still for a moment before rolling over and placing her hand on her chest. She could feel her heart frantically beating against her rib-cage and was unable to stop shaking. The stress of falling through the sky multiple times today seemed to be taking a toll on her nerves.

Becoming aware of a searing heat warming her left side, she slowly pushed herself up on wobbly arms, spat gravel out of her mouth, and blinked the dust out of her eyes. Her vision focused and registered the glow of a steaming pit of lava about three feet away from where she had landed, and her fear skyrocketed as she visualized what would have happened if she had slid just a bit further along the ground.

"Master Link." Fi called out from where Link was lying a few feet away. "It appears that, although several miles from our designated landing site, we have arrived at Eldin Volcano."

Mia brought her hand up, wincing at the scrapes and scratches that stung as she fingered the tender skin on her scraped face. Try as she might, she couldn't shake the guilty feeling that she could have done something to prevent this from happening. If she hadn't been so distracted about her scarf, perhaps she could have remembered if the wind storm was going to happen at this point in the story, and warned Link in time.

She tried out her voice. "Did you loose your things?"

Link shifted into a sitting position and tested the movement of his arms and legs before he began going through the pouches on his belt. Most of the smaller ones were open, but a few larger ones seemed to still be intact. Mia hoped he had put all the important things in those ones.

"There is a bit missing. But luckily, not this." Link pulled out a white cloth from the pack he wore underneath his shield. "I was thinking it would be easier for you to have your own, so I talked to Gaepora about getting you one. Too bad I didn't think to give it to you before we left. But what were the odds you were going to need it before we even reached the rift?"

Mia's breath continued to come in short gasps, and she nearly choked as she grasped the sailcloth tightly in her hands and stared at the fabric. _We are alive,_ she forced herself to focus on that thought, but could not keep herself from wondering what would have happened if they had fallen all the way to the Surface. _Would I have suddenly woken up, out of this story dream? Or would my body have fractured into pieces on the rocky ground?_

Link dug into his pack again and pulled out a bottle of red, which Mia noticed was leaking slightly. He inspected a large crack near the bottom of the bottle and sighed. "We may as well use it up before it wastes. This should make you feel better until we can get back to Skyloft."

Mia got to her feet, wincing at the pain. It felt like she had swallowed a ton of gravel and dirt. She coughed hard in a semi-successful attempt at clearing her lungs, then took the bottle from him, uncorked it, and took a small sip. The liquid was thick and slightly warm as it ran down her throat. It tasted like medicine, but with a lingering sweetness. "What do we do now?" She asked as Link took the bottle back.

"Well... you said you have seen this place in your visions from the Goddess? Do you know which way Zelda was headed?"

Mia turned to stare at the huge, barren mountain that was Eldin Volcano. It towered away from them, rising high into the hazy sky. Thin wisps of white smoke hung over top of the crater, and streams of lava glowed as they flowed down the mountain. It definitely looked like it would take a while to get to the mountain; the surrounding area seemed pretty vast.

Dead trees littered the region, and Mia noticed the only living vegetation seemed to be a few scraggly weeds pushing stubbornly out of tiny cracks in the dry ground. The air was thick and hot, and yellowish-orange lava bubbled everywhere. The place felt like a pit of heat. A death trap for anything trying to stay alive.

"Yes, I have seen this place." Mia finally replied, as she was able to fuzzily recall this point in the story. "Zelda will probably be heading toward the Earth Spring. We will have to follow her to the Earth Temple." She squinted, just managing to make out the entrance to the temple, a good hike up the mountainside, and suddenly wondered how long it would take them to get through Eldin.

From the light packing Link had done, he seemed to assume that they wouldn't be down here any longer than the half day they had spent in the forest. But Mia was starting to think it would take them multiple days to reach and scale the massive mountain, let alone get through the temple. Something told her they weren't very well prepared for this trip and she was starting to get more nervous at the thought of the supplies they had lost in the sky, especially since Link had not packed much to began with.

"Master, I detect Zelda's presence in the area." Fi floated out of Link's sword. The light from the nearby lava pits gleamed strangely off of her skin and hair, emphasizing her metallic nature. "I calculate a 83.2% possibility that Zelda will be heading towards the Earth Spring. Please use your dowsing ability to follow her." Fi did a gentle backflip and disappeared into the sword, a few blue sparkles lingering behind.

"I guess Fi's calculations confirm where we need to go." Link said, putting the now empty potion bottle away and wiping his mouth with the back of his arm. He pulled out his sword, which started pulsing faintly with light when he pointed it in the direction of the volcano. "It's a good thing the Goddess showed you where to go. Otherwise we'd probably be wasting time wandering around, seeing as the sword seems to react to Zelda's presence even when we are this far away from the spring. Also, the glow doesn't really indicate exactly which direction we need to go, only that she's been in the area."

Mia mumbled an agreement and tucked the sailcloth into the bag slung around her back. She was trying not to think about what would happen when they traveled to places she had no knowledge whatsoever about, and how she was going to explain her lack of 'goddess visions' then. The thought made her start to sweat; she could literally feel droplets running down the back of her neck. Or perhaps that was just from the heat rising off the ground in vertical waves.

Trying her best to brush dirt off of her clothes, she followed Link as they started slowly walking towards the volcano. "This entire place is so strange…" He spoke aloud after they had traveled a few minutes in silence, picking their way across the rocky area. "I've never felt heat like this." The stinging soreness from the fall had started to fade from Mia's arms and legs, though they still felt a little bruised. She noticed Link seemed to be feeling better as well; his strides were longer and he was walking more energetically. The heart potion must be working.

Mia eyed some red blobs scattered between the rocks all around them. Blobs that seemed to be oozing sentiently around the lava-covered area.

"They are harmless." Link said, noticing her watching them. "We have some in Skyloft, except they're a different color. We call them Chus. One of the ingredients in that heart potion is actually jelly harvested from Chus." He chuckled a bit at her grimace. "I'd take potion made from Chu jelly over the prolonged feeling of pain any day.

They eventually came across a dirt path, which was much easier to walk on than the rock-strewn ground they had been struggling across. It also indicated they were back on track, because Mia recognized the lava pit up ahead, and remembered how in the story, the hero had made use of floating rocks to traverse the lava-filled land. Link seemed to come to that conclusion easily enough.

"We will have to cross it. Do you think you can manage without falling in the fire?" He asked as they stopped in front of the pit.

"We will make it." Mia told him, trying her best to sound confident, although some of those rocks looked pretty far apart.

"What did you call the fire earlier? You used another word for it." He observed as they began to jump across. Mia held her breath each time she made a jump. Even though most of the gaps between the floating rocks were easy to manage she still sighed with relief each time she landed safely.

"The liquid fire is lava. It comes out of mountains, from deep underground." She told him, feeling the collar of her shirt getting damper with sweat. The air was pretty hot already, but being directly over a pit of lava felt like an open oven was underneath them.

She heard Link give a small sigh of relief when he jumped across the last rock. Mia was glad to get to the other side as well, but startled in surprise as clouds of dust started flying out of the ground and two yellow creatures popped out of the dirt.

"Hey! You...mess with our turf, and you're gonna... pay?" One of the creatures put up both fists, holding them in what he probably thought was a threatening manner.

"Whoa! Yo, Ledd, These aren't those red creeps." The other creature exclaimed, squinting closer at Link and Mia. "They are around the same size though, so I see why you might have thought. False alarm, dude!"

Link lowered his sword a bit and Mia relaxed as she recognized the creatures as Mogmas. They had long snouts, shovel-like arms, and looked a bit like moles. Completely harmless, if she remembered correctly.

The one with the red hair, Ledd, leaned forward. "Sorry 'bout that, pals. These monsters showing up are messing with our turf, and it's got us all on edge. They show up here, and I'm gonna knock the red clean out of 'em!"

"You mean those red blobs of chu jelly?" Mia smiled slightly and glanced at Link. "But they are not dangerous."

"Whatever, miss. Anyway, if y'all are looking for treasure go ahead, but stay clear of those red guys."

Link shrugged and walked past the Mogmas. The path hugged a rocky wall and led right into a cave with more lava pools. Flaming bats were fluttering near the roof, and Mia couldn't help but grin as she pointed them out to Link. "Do you think those are the 'terrifying monsters' the Mogmas spoke of?"

Link snorted, then whirled as twin lava geysers sprouted noisily behind him, arching across the path and blocking the entrance. "That was close." He sounded a bit shaken.

The heat of the lava against her face as she stared at the spurting geysers reminded her all too well that what she was experiencing was real. As hard as it was to believe and to process in her mind, and even though dreams were not supposed to work like this, she was certain the dangers could affect her too. Perturbed at the thought, she shuddered and hurried to catch up to the hero.

Further into the cave Link pointed his sword at the ground where a few stamina fruits were sprouting out of the dirt along the path. "I'm surprised those are able to grow in such a hot environment."

Mia winced at the memory of sore muscles the first day she had spent with Groose. She wondered if the fruit really did help one get stronger while exercising while under the effects. The idea seemed far fetched to her, and she suspected that the red-haired Skyloftian had made her run purely to cause her trouble. She had picked up on the disdain he clearly felt towards her in the glares, and from the tone of his voice whenever he had spoken to her. He clearly resented having to spend time tutoring her, despite the encouragement he had occasionally given.

As they entered a deeper tunnel on the other side of the cave, she saw two more Mogmas sitting in the dirt with freshly dug holes beside them.

"Huh? Never seen you around here before..." One said, watching them approach.

"Whoa! You must be a friend of those red creeps!" The other gasped, jumping up and looking like he was about to escape down the hole beside him. "Wait, are you?"

"Uh, no." Answered Link.

"You're not, huh? Well you don't look like 'em, that's for sure."

While they were speaking, Mia walked to the wall of the tunnel to inspect a brown bulb covered in blue petals. _These are bomb flowers? They are a lot bigger than I would have expected,_ she thought. _I wonder if I_ can _lift one?_

"Hey... what are you doing with the bomb flowers?" Mia heard one of the Mogmas say behind her.

"Bomb what? Stay back!" Link ordered, but Mia was too busy examining the plants to pay much attention.

"You don't know what bomb flowers are, dude?" The Mogma sounded shocked. "You're joking, right? They're those flowers over there. You pick one up, and it lights a fuse. Then... BOOM!"

 **-BOOM-**

Luckily Mia had jumped away from the flower in time. Everyone stared at her and she stared back, wide-eyed.

"Well... they're dangerous plants," continued the Mogma. "But once you learn to use 'em, they're a great weapon. Us Mogmas are crazy about 'em! You can even roll 'em on the ground!"

Mia heard a hissing noise and turned to see Link holding a smoking bomb flower. She flinched and covered her ears as Link threw the bomb away.

 **-BOOM-**

When the smoke cleared, part of the wall in front of them was gone, blown to bits. "Master, an unknown object has been detected." Fi spoke from inside the sword. "The unknown object has an energy signature equal to the item in Master's possession known as the Slingshot. I advise investigation via dowsing, Master."

Mia smiled once she understood what was going on. _We are going to get a new item!_

Link held out his sword and they followed the new path in the wall, which actually led to a way through. The path eventually split into two parts that curved around either side of a big rock in the middle of another lava pit, and at the edge of the lava was what looked like a huge tree made of stone. It got a pretty big, flashing reaction from Link's sword.

"I will carry whatever is in there!" Mia said quickly. Maybe this item could be her way of being useful until she actually figured out how to use her dagger.

Closer inspection revealed there seemed to be a hole in the tree-shaped stone, crammed full of rocks. Link glanced at the ground where more bomb flowers were growing. "Maybe we can use those." He grabbed a flower, aimed carefully, and rolled it at the stone tree.

 **-BOOM-**

The path was cleared. Mia dropped over the edge and clambered into the hole, which was pretty tight.

"Be careful." Link called after her.

After a bit of awkward crawling, she shoved a few small rocks out of her way, then emerged into an open space, which must have been the very center of the rock. There was no other way to get out besides the way she had come, but it did have some grass, two heart plants... and a rusty metal treasure chest. Mia walked over and shoved the heavy, creaky lid open, when Link came crawling out of the tunnel behind her. He stood up, dusting off his knees as she pulled a short, rod-like instrument out of the chest. "What do you think it is?" He asked as Mia turned the object around in her hands.

She suddenly froze, and despite the heat a shiver crossed her arms at the same time a sharp wave of nostalgia struck her straight in the chest. Although it was shaped a little differently than how she remembered, the object looked similar to a Sand Wand. She hadn't been expecting that. A flood of memories came back in a torrent, images that left her gasping in an attempt to choke back her emotions. The painful feeling of loss was intensified as, out of habit, her hand went up to her neck and she was reminded again that the scarf was not there. _Anjean...Link...Zelda...And Byrne. I miss you all. I miss your story._

"Are you alright?" Link's voice shattered her memories, and she realized that she had backed away and was bracing herself against the stone wall, with the wand clutched tightly in both hands.

"Y-yes. I felt a little dizzy for a moment. Probably the heat." She tried her best to make her voice sound normal, but saw Link eyeing her skeptically and didn't think he was buying it. "This...this item is something I have seen before." She said, trying to divert the attention off of her, although as hard as she tried she just couldn't force herself to sound enthusiastic. "We can use it to raise the earth into cubes solid enough to walk on it. It may be useful later."

"Well, there you go." Link said, not sounding very excited about the item. Mia caught a faint strain of what sounded like impatience in his voice as he turned and started crawling out of the tunnel. "Let's keep trying to find Zelda. Maybe we can catch up to her before she reaches the temple."

XXX

Link's sword seemed to pulse stronger when he pointed it toward the right side of the large lava pit. He wasted no time in heading off down the path, and Mia hurried to catch up, nearly running into him as he stumbled to a stop in front of another Mogma half-sitting in the ground.

"Oh, huh? More strangers? And you're not with those red creeps, either. I swear, this neighborhood is getting crummier each day." The Mogma sighed, looking pretty grumpy at the sight of them. "Hey, I saw you over there, takin' Silva's deposits. He deserved it." His face lit up with a slight grin as he gestured to the wand Mia was carrying. "You sounded like you were lookin' for someone?"

"Yes, have you seen anyone go by?" Asked Link as Mia wondered if she should be feeling bad for stealing someone's treasure.

"Yeah... I saw this funny-dressed character go into that hole over there. It was wearing all black, and it just seemed off, you know? Sorry I don't remember more, man."

Link was about to reply when something squealed to their left. A red, fishy animal with huge ears and flippers for legs stared, before it turned and waddled into a little hole in the side of the rock wall. "What was that?"

Mia watched nervously as Link edged toward the hole to get a closer look. The creature promptly began spitting out fire, and he jumped backwards. "It's like this place was DESIGNED to slow us down." Turning, Link grabbed a bomb flower, then impatiently motioned for Mia to get out of the way before rolling the bomb into the hole.

 **-Muffled Boom-**

The creature inside shrieked and the flames stopped, clearing the path. Link immediately ran forward, probably eager to see if the character the Mogma mentioned had been Zelda. He stopped abruptly, causing Mia to nearly run into him again, and silently pointed at a red monster standing in the middle of the cave. It looked like the Bokoblins that had been in the forest, but its face was slightly more piggish, and its limbs seemed shorter. It was also holding a horn, which it immediately began blowing into, producing a sharp, squawking noise.

Two more red monsters holding over-sized clubs in their hands ran up out of nowhere. Link unsheathed his sword, and Mia set the wand carefully off to the side before pulling out her dagger. She thought got the gist of how to use a weapon. It couldn't be that hard to master a stab, could it?

Before Mia had practically blinked, Link had taken care of two of the monsters, feigning up and then slashing at their unguarded sides while the other one came after her. Holding her dagger out she backed away, gulping as she realized how big the last monster was. But focusing on her had put the monster's back to Link, who quickly took it out with a sweeping slash.

"T-thank you..."

"Don't mention it." Link took a moment to wipe his sword on a rock before putting it away. Mia sighed, stuck her unsullied dagger back in her belt, and picked up the wand. Maybe being useful in combat would happen later.

The path continued to an open area. There was a ledge with some bombs on it, and below that an area with some of the fishy-looking creatures sitting around. A series of ledges speckled up the side of a steep hill, to a higher place that probably led to the temple entrance.

"Looks like we're in for a bit of a climb." Link pointed his sword upwards; Mia noticed the blue glow looked extra bright against the dingy rocks and dusty ground. She also noticed the ground was lighter in color and more powdery. When she kicked at it, it poofed into the air. It almost looked like…sand, and that gave her an idea on how they could get to the top easier.

Mia raised the wand, pressed the button on the center of it, and pointed it at the ground below her. Nothing happened.

"Are you sure that will work?" Link said, studying her as she tried again. "Maybe the wand is for something else."

Mia frowned and aimed the rod at the ground before pressing the button this time. Sure enough, the earth rumbled softly for a moment and a cube of sand about four feet high solidified into existence.

"We can use the cubes to climb the hill." Mia paused to smile, then climbed up the solid sand, digging her fingers into the rough edges of the cube. Link was close behind. A few more ledges were scaled this way, with Mia pulling up sand cubes as they needed them, until they reached the top of the steep hill and found themselves on the edge of a long stretch of relatively flat ground that seemed to be the only thing between them and the actual base of the mountain. A small, wooden hut that looked abandoned was not investigated as Link rushed past it and Mia followed behind.

She began to pant, her arms pumping as she jogged across the plateau. The feeling was rapidly fading from her sore legs, and her eyes stung from both the smoky air and the sweat running into them. Her stomach was starting to cramp with hunger too, but out of fear of seeming whiny, she didn't dare voice these complaints, although she wondered why the hero had decided to start running.

"Zelda could be close! We might be able to catch up if we hurry." Link called over his shoulder, as if reading the question in her mind, but he slowed slightly. As she caught up to him Mia discovered they were in the same boat; his face was turning pink from the sun and exertion, he was also panting slightly, and he was definitely sweating.

"Can we stop for water?" One thing she hadn't been able to ignore was the way the sun beating down on her head seemed intent on sucking every bit of moisture out of her body. Her throat was starting to feel like sand.

"Look." Link nodded towards a massive wall of the mountain ahead of them, on the other end of the plateau. "Let's try to make it there first, okay? Then we can stop."

Mia nodded while biting back a complaint. They hadn't taken a break since we got to Eldin, and that was a few hours ago by now. Fainting from heat stroke or dying from dehydration wasn't going to do them any good. She almost wanted to say that out loud but decided not to. If she was in Link's shoes and desperate to rescue a lost best friend from potential danger, she would probably forget about taking breaks too. _Well, maybe not food breaks_ , she clarified to herself as her stomach cramped at the thought.

They continued travelling over the plateau at a slower pace, but one that still made Mia's aching legs complain. She tried not to concentrate too much on the various discomforts assaulting all her senses, or on how much she was wishing at that moment that she wasn't stuck there. She focused instead on blinking her gritty eyes steadily and staring at her boots as they softly threw up sand and dirt with each step. Then all at once the ground dipped into a downward slope and a sudden, glaring lack of path forced them to stop. They had made it to the base of the higher part of the mountain. They were getting closer to the temple! But more importantly, getting to this point meant they could take a break!

She hurriedly pulled Link's bag off of her back before collapsing to sit in the shade cast by the great mountain. Link picked up the bag she dropped and rummaged through it, producing a smaller bag that looked to be made of leather.

"Careful." He said as he undid the leathery strings holding the thick bag tightly shut and handed it over.

Mia didn't answer him; she was too busy swallowing mouthfuls. That water was the tastiest thing she thought she had ever consumed in her life, even though it was warm and slightly dusty. After she finished, she gave a huge, contented sigh, feeling so much better. She noticed Link give her a look that seemed odd as she handed the now lighter bag back to him.

"What is it?" She asked, wiping her wet mouth. He didn't say anything as he raised the bag, looking like he intended to take only a few small sips. Mia guessed the thirst got the better of him too because he suddenly started swallowing water down nearly as fast as she had. Some even trickled out of the corners of his mouth and down his chin, he was drinking so fast. When he was done he gave her another strange look and examined the half-empty bag in his hand.

"...I don't know if we'll be able to find any more water down here, and I lost the other bag in the sky. We should have been more careful."

"I didn't know you lost the other one." Mia mumbled, feeling guilty even though she didn't really do anything wrong. He should have told her they didn't have much water before she started drinking it.

"We'll just have to be careful with what we have left until we get to the Earth Spring." Link sighed, the look on his face suggesting he was worried she would drink the rest down right then and there.

"I would have been careful if I had known we lost the rest of it," Mia told him, feeling her face turning red as she shoved the water back into Link's bigger bag. "I guess I should not ask about food."

Link shot yet another weighted look in her direction, but he pulled a small, wrapped parcel out of one of the pouches on his belt.

"Here." He handed Mia a very small loaf of round, crusty bread. "The food is something that we didn't lose, at least." His voice seemed a bit less terse, the annoyed tone dissipating slightly, but Mia still felt a bit guilty she hadn't thought to be more careful with the water.

She bit into the bread, and hoped it wasn't all the food Link had brought. Not that the bread in Skyloft tasted bad, but it wasn't very filling. _Maybe he was saving the rest of the food until we really need it,_ she thought.

"So… what did we lose then?" Mia tried to keep the embarrassment she was feeling out of her voice as she self-consciously put the bread in her mouth and forced herself to chew it slowly, wondering if she dared to ask if they could eat anything else.

"We lost some medical supplies. I brought them because of what happened last time. A bit of gear. Not much else, and nothing that can't be replaced once we get back to Skyloft. Speaking of which, it's time we got moving." Link shoved one of the loaves in his mouth whole and put the rest away. "It looks like we'll have to walk around the side of the mountain until we find a way to go up."

Mia looked around the area as she finished up the last of the bread. She thought she recognized this place from the stories. If she tried hard, she faintly recalled an instance where the hero was stuck and used bomb flowers to clear the way. Could this be the place?

The rock walls on either side of them seemed too tall to climb and it looked like the only way to go was back up the short hill and onto the plateau. However, there were a few passageways plugged up with rocks in the wall of the mountain and Mia thought for a moment, trying to remember which plug had to be blown up in order to advance. Swallowing her last mouthful, she got to her feet, immediately wincing. Her body had gotten stiff while they had stopped to rest. "We don't have to go around or up." She told Link. "Not if we can go through it, and then up."

"What are you doing?" Link asked as she walked over to a bomb flower and picked it up.

"Don't worry," Mia smiled with confidence. Aiming carefully, she rolled the bomb at the left plug and braced herself for the…

 **-BOOM-**

For a moment, nothing happened. Link and Mia stood silently as dust cleared. She frowned, suddenly unsure if she had blown up the right plug, and winced as an ominous rumbling reverberated throughout the area. Lava was now flowing towards them, a glowing wave the color of smoldering coals. _This… would probably be a good time to start running_ , she thought. But her legs wouldn't move.

"There's a ledge over there." Link grabbed her shoulder and pointed in the direction of a ledge halfway up the wall to their left, about five feet away. They ran across to the rock wall, her face feeling like it was burning partially from the heat radiating from the advancing lava, but also from mortification. She thought for sure she had aimed for the correct side; what if by blowing up the wrong plug, she had messed something up really badly?

Link hoisted himself onto the small ledge and reached down for her arm, helping to pull her up just as lava touched the spot where she had been standing. "Lucky this was here." He said as she scrambled backwards as far away as she could from the edge. They watched the lava, until the steady flow slowed and it began to roll backwards to pool in front of the plug Mia had blown up, forming a little lava lake. It would be impossible to get close enough to blow up the right plug now.

"I am sorry." Mia eventually said as the lava cleared from the ground underneath their ledge. Link didn't say anything, but Mia assumed he wasn't too happy about how close they had come to getting fried.

When it became apparent the lava wasn't going to move from where it had pooled up, they slid to the ground, right in front of a Mogma that had tunneled up out of the dirt.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" The Mogma griped. "Don't you know you shouldn't mess with the bomb flowers? I mean, that lava? It burns, you know? And if it was sealed off, then it was probably sealed off for a reason." As the Mogma was talking, Mia noticed Link picking up a bomb flower. Nervously, she watched him walk over to stare at another plug in the side of the rock wall, similar to the plug she had blown up. "It's a good thing you blew up THAT plug," the Mogma continued as Link reared back his arm, then let the bomb flower fly forward through the air. "...And not that one over there-"

The bomb exploded, and the Mogma turned just in time to see the lava receding from the area around the newly exposed cave hole. "You know...I sunk the road leading to that hole over there in lava because that's where all those red monsters came from. But now that you blew up the plug, there's nothing stopping more of them from moving in! Great! Just great."

Mia glanced at the distraught Mogma over her shoulder as she rushed to follow Link into the area where the lava had been. She could feel the heat seeping through the bottom of her boots, and winced slightly. She had just about had enough of this dangerous, lava-filled place. "Where do you think the lava has gone?" She asked tentatively, unsure whether Link was very upset with her or not. It was hard for her to read his face.

"Hopefully down into some monster-infested area."

Directly in front of them was another cave entrance, but this one looked darker inside than the other tunnels they had been in. Just a few feet into the dark cave the ground abruptly dropped away. Mia gulped as she carefully crept closer to the edge and noticed a bunch of ledges jutting out from the rock wall, all the way down to the cave floor at the bottom of the vertical tunnel.

"This doesn't look so safe-" Her words cut off as a piece of the ledge crumbled away and her foot slipped. Panicking, Mia tried to grab onto something. Unfortunately, that something was Link's leg, which resulted in her successfully dragging him along with her, off into empty air. She shrieked as they fell past sharp rocks, every second bringing them closer to smashing into the rock floor at the bottom.

Thankfully Link shook open his sailcloth and after a painful jerk, they straightened out and floated down the last few feet, landing in an awkward pile at the bottom of the cave. Link struggled out from underneath the sailcloth, his eyes stretched wide.

Mia shakily picked herself up off the floor to look around the cave they had fallen into. In front of them was a doorway that sort of looked like the entrance to a mine shaft.

Link began to walk forward, folding the sailcloth up as he went. "I guess all we can do is go deeper."

Mia had to agree; there was no earthly way they were going to get back the way they came.

A little ways into the passageway they turned a corner and saw a Mogma half-sitting in a hole in the ground. "Grr...those creeps! They just, like, shimmied on in, and took over our territory..." He muttered to himself, then noticed them. "Yow! What're you doing? Don't be sneakin' up on me like that!"

"Have you seen anyone come through here?" Link asked. "A girl with yellow hair?"

"Huh? You're looking for your friend? Could..that be him over there?" The Mogma pointed ahead, to where the passageway opened up into another room like the one they had fallen into. But this one had less ledges and more stalactite structures that grew from the floor almost all the way up to the ceiling. Mia also saw Bokoblins everywhere and certainly no girl with yellow hair.

As soon as the creatures noticed Link and Mia, they shrieked to each other, which seemed to be an agreement to attack. Mia noticed a few more monsters racing out of different passageways that led into the room, probably responding to the one standing on a tall wooden structure and blowing a horn. "That one is calling more monsters!"

Link grunted as he raised his sword to block attacks from the first monsters that met him, either not hearing or deliberately choosing to ignore her.

"We have to stop that one over there!" Mia tried again, rapidly backing away from the widening reach of Link's sword as he upped the offensive moves, forcing the monsters back with wide slashes.

As she quickly retreated to stand beside the Mogma, Mia watched Link fight and saw he was pretty close to being dangerously outnumbered. The monster blowing the horn was still doing just that and had unlimited monsters at his disposal, for all they knew. At the rate Link was dealing with the current monsters in the room, it would be a while before he had a clear shot at the horn monster. Sucking in a deep breath and unsheathing her dagger, Mia stepped past the Mogma and back into the room, pressing herself against the wall and starting to inch in the direction of the monster on the platform who, it seemed, had inexhaustible lungs.

"That's probably not a very good idea," the Mogma observed.

Inwardly Mia agreed, but she kept inching sideways. Could this finally, finally be her chance to do something helpful, and perhaps even make up for messing up with the rock plugs earlier? She ducked behind a stalactite column, feeling more confident about herself for going through with a plan so daring, and then sprinted across the room to another stalactite that was directly behind the monster's wooden platform.

She crept out from behind her hiding place, her pulse racing. Staring at the monster's foot, inches away from her face, she raised her dagger. But she couldn't bring herself to stab it. Her hands were trembling, and she let out a frustrated grunt as she raised the dagger a little higher. Mia felt she probably could have forced herself to do it, had her exclamation not drawn the attention of the monster.

The Bokoblin noticed her and almost choked on his horn in surprise, which might have been humorous if the monster hadn't been holding a massive knife. Mia immediately turned and started to run. The Bokoblin seemed pretty angry at nearly being taken out from behind because it was lumbering after her, and she had no idea what to do to deal with it.

"What're you doing!? Don't lead it over- Augh!" The Mogma dove underground as she ran back around the room, promptly tripping over the small pile of dirt left by the Mogma's exit. She fell on her face and heard the Bokoblin screech, as if in gleeful response to her clumsiness.

Mia managed to get to her feet, though her legs felt wobbly and numb. Fear was coursing through her with that unpleasant feeling found in scary dreams, where reaction time is sub-par and there was no way to move fast enough. Her fingers felt thick and clumsy as she fumbled for her dagger. Once she picked it up, the Bokoblin promptly knocked it out of her hands with its huge knife.

Mia wasn't entirely sure if she screamed or not as she huddled against the wall. All she could do was watch the monster as it came closer and stare at the maniacal glint in its bulging eyes as it raised its weapon. She saw a distorted version of her reflection in the dirty and dented metal of the blade before she closed her eyes.

There was a thud, and then a couple of grunts. Something touched her arm, and Mia gasped, shaking in terror as she flinched away.

"Are you alright?

She opened her eyes and saw Link holding the monster horn, the owner of which was now incapacitated by a nasty sword slash and lying face down on the ground.

Mia tried to focus her vision on Link as her entire body continued to tremble. Behind Link, the Mogma dug back out of the ground, blocking his path. "You took out every last one of those guys?! Thanks for all your help! I don't blame you for not knowing this, but us Mogmas always honor our debts. Let me give you something to prove it."

"What..." Link blinked as he was handed a pair of gloves with long, sharp claws on them.

"These things are pretty special if I do say so herself. Using them, you should be able to get to the top of that ledge right behind me. Just try digging in that hole over there! Word in the neighborhood is that you creatures use the wind somehow to fly. And there's a ton of hidden wind around here! Sorry I don't have anything for you," the Mogma turned to Mia. "But come to think of it, you didn't really do much to help, did you?"

"I... I was going to." Mia mumbled, and got to her feet after retrieving her dagger and sheathing it at her side.

Link had put on the gloves. Mia watched him crouch and scoop the soft dirt out of the small mound beneath the ledge until a small column of wind was released. He stood and pulled out his sailcloth. "Looks like we have a way to keep moving."

"Good luck finding your friend!" The Mogma called after them as Mia gripped the Sand Wand between her knees and tentatively stepped into the wind with her sailcloth out, gasping at the speed with which she was thrust through the air to the top of the ledge. Link had already gotten pretty far ahead, and Mia had to jog to catch up, which she luckily did right before losing him at a branch in the path. He chose to go left, with his glowing sword leading the way, but stopped as another tall ledge blocked off the path.

"This looks like a dead end." Link muttered, but he walked over and scooped a few handfuls of dirt out of the way of another column of wind. Pulling out his sailcloth, he stepped into the wind and floated up to the top of the ledge. "Stay there. I get the feeling this isn't the way we need to go." Link tucked his sailcloth in his belt and started climbing a ladder that was on the wall.

Mia watched him reach a tunnel in the wall and disappear into it.

As she waited for him to reappear, she swallowed the sudden odd feeling that lumped in her throat. Even though he seemed to be making an effort to keep his irritation, or whatever he was feeling, contained, she could tell Link itched to get to the temple. He would probably have made much better time if she wasn't here. If he didn't have her slowing him down. The thought made Mia feel extremely self-conscious. She quickly looked away as Link appeared back at the top of the ladder.

"Just like I thought," Link climbed down and jumped down to the ground. "No way to go. Just an empty chest and some of these." He held out his hand to show her a small pile of glittering, multicolored rupees.

"They are valuable, at least." Mia mumbled, glancing at the rupees.

"Here." Link tipped the rupees into her hands. "There was no way Zelda could have gone, so let's head back and go the other way."

Mia slid the rupees into the pocket in her trousers as they backtracked and walked down the other path, into a room filled with thick pillars of rock with small holes near the bottom. Fire came shooting out of a hole in one of the rocks, and she felt the heat on her legs as she jumped away.

"Careful. Is that more of those fire fish?" Link squinted at the fire and then stepped towards the nearest bomb flower, grabbing it and jogging backwards a few feet before rolling the bomb at the stream of fire the creature was shooting.

There was a more dangerous-sounding-than-normal boom that made Mia's ears rattle.

"You know, I'm starting to wonder how Zelda managed to get through this place." Link muttered as they raced through the room, dodging fire spewing from holes in the bottoms of pillars.

"Perhaps she had help from the Goddess," Mia suggested as they made it to the other side of the room, to a huge pit filled with wind gusting upward into a vertical tunnel, like the one they had accidentally fallen down earlier.

"That looks like it'll probably take us outside." Link peered up into the tunnel. "I'll go first. You'll be okay using the sailcloth on your own, right?" His voice was laced with concern, and something else that Mia couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Don't worry." Mia waited until Link was carried away by the wind before taking the cloth from her pouch and shaking it out. She was pretty nervous about making this jump, but didn't want it to seem like she was scared. She wanted to prove that she could do something on her own. Sticking the Sand Wand between her knees again, she nervously grasped the corners of the sailcloth before jumping out over the pit. The wind blew her upwards for what seemed like ages, before she was flung up into the hot, open air.

"Whoa! Now there's a different colored one!" A Mogma gasped as Mia went sprawling to the ground.

"Before you ask, no we're not monsters." Mia heard Link saying, a bit tersely. "We don't even look like the Bokoblins. There shouldn't be any reason to keep confusing us for them."

"Well us Mogmas don't always have the best eyesight. Anyways, one of your kind just came charging through here." The Mogma said. "Dressed all in black! That a friend of yours?"

Link pulled out his sword and pointed it in the direction the Mogma indicated. It immediately started glowing stronger. "That's what we're hoping."

"See that up ahead?" The Mogma pointed at a stone structure that looked a lot like a bridge, but with the middle part missing. Mia could see a river of lava flowed far underneath. "That's what we call a drop-dead, dead end. But this character danced right over it. Seriously? Jumping over a gap like that? My jaw hit the dirt."

Link started to say something then stopped when a clear voice rang loudly, "Hey! You, the goddess's chosen hero, and his companion."

A figure was standing on the very top of the bridge, on the other side of the gap.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Author's Note: So, "Prisoner of Destiny" (Previously A Skyward Sword Story) has been pretty revamped with changes that I feel greatly improve the story overall. Any new readers won't be effected, but any readers who have been following this story since the beginning may want to go back and re-read.**

 **Quick overview:**

 **1\. I've combined a few of the shorter chapters, which is why it might look like this story has fewer chapters. Some are just squished together now.  
** **2\. The chapters containing first person POV have been shifted into third person. All chapters are now written from 3rd person perspective.**  
 **3\. The very first chapter has been _heavily_ re-written, as I have a solid idea of where I want this story to go. The first chapter needed editing to reflect that.**  
 **4\. The name change. It took me a while to think of a good title for the story, but this one stuck with me, and I think it fits with the plot (mostly the upcoming plot, although there has been a bit of vague foreshadowing already in the story...) pretty well.**

 **5\. As always, thank you for reading, and feel free to drop your thoughts and constructive criticisms! I love hearing from readers, even if it's just a couple words. :)**

 **~Wingscutdarkness**

* * *

"You are late, chosen one. Zelda is waiting for you up ahead...but you have a long way to go still. You must hurry, for she cannot linger forever in this place."

"Wait!" Link called. He took a few steps towards the ornate bridge, attempting to get a closer look at the figure who had spoken. All he could make out was an nondescript silhouette. Shading his face and squinting his eyes proved to be in vain; it was impossible to discern any distinguishing features as the glaring sun filled his vision. "Where is Zelda? Is she safe?"

"She is safe. For now." There came no further elaboration or words of parting. With speed and fluidity that seemed inhuman the figure leapt into the air, dropping off the tall archway and disappearing behind a dust cloud raised in their landing.

The mountain in front of them rumbled. Mia stumbled to her knees and Link's own balance was nearly thrown as the earth beneath their feet pitched. Some previously hidden mechanism was triggering; Link watched as a long platform slid forward and slotted into place on their side of the canyon. The bridge was rendered whole, and the path was now accessible. He spared a brief moment to make sure Mia was following him before breaking into a run, ignoring the aches coursing throughout his weary body.

Crossing the rocky, hazardous terrain of the Eldin territory in their journey to reach the mountain had been more challenging than anything he had ever faced. The heat of the sun matched by the heat rising from the ground was quite nearly unbearable. But renewed resolve fueled Link's actions now, allowing him to tap into a reserve of energy he was surprised to find the relentless sun hadn't baked right out of him.

 _Zelda is waiting up ahead. And she is safe._ If the mysterious figure's words were to be trusted, then that meant despite the detour caused by their crash-landing, the demon from the forest hadn't yet caught up to Zelda.

The path to the left of the bridge led through a small valley that opened up to an impossibly steep incline consuming the mountainside. A couple of green shapes near the ground caught Link's attention. He stepped over a small river of lava trickling through the path and bent to inspect the stamina fruits nestled close to a large, grey boulder. The fruits were by no means thriving; being so close to the lava stream had obviously stunted their growth. They were smaller than normal and slightly shriveled, but Link could feel a good amount of fleshy pulp underneath when he pressed his thumb against the tough, green skin.

"What is it?" Mia wheezed from behind him, her uneven breathing and heavy footfalls clear evidence she was exhausted. So was he, but that energy reserve of his wasn't all tapped out just yet.

Plucking two of the fruits, he handed one to her as she approached, then pointed to draw her attention up the slope. He had noticed earlier some sort of tall, stone structures clustered at the summit. Something up there was also catching the sunlight and giving off a metallic gleam. "Do you see those pillars? That must be the temple. At the very top." His sentences were short; a considerable amount of effort had been expended today, and his throat and lungs, along with the rest of his body, struggled to recuperate.

Mia silently took the fruit. Link noticed she also had a difficult time breathing easy in the dusty, boiling air. Her face was flushed and her shoulders sagged. Sweat ran trails through the reddish dirt on her scraped face and she was sunburned on her neck and shoulders. The child looked utterly miserable. _Gods, please don't let her pass out. I don't think I have the willpower to carry her the rest of the way._

Reaching into his bag, he withdrew out the water pouch and held it out. "Drink some, and eat the whole fruit. You'll need it."

As she swallowed a few mouthfuls, Link sent a desperate prayer to the goddess they would find a water source soon. After her, he took a brief drink that wasn't nearly enough to quench his terrible thirst, and reflected that many of the problems they faced were more than likely the result of dehydration and hunger. In his eagerness to head after Zelda, he had to admit he hadn't made a good effort to be overly prepared for a situation like this. Losing half their supplies had definitely crippled them. But ultimately, it didn't matter. As soon as they found Zelda, they could return to Skyloft. _All we have to do is survive,_ Link thought. _And get to the top of this slope._

He brushed the dirt off of the stamina fruit and bit into it. As always, the sour taste of the leathery skin made him grimace but he swallowed it down, impatient for the temporary energy to start flowing through his body. The strange figure's warning that he must hurry repeated in his mind, and he grew anxious to get moving again. It was hard to ignore how their shadows were growing longer.

Mia noticed this as well. "It will be dark soon." She toyed with the rolled up sleeve of her shirt. "Do you think we should... return to Skyloft? There was a bird statue at the bridge."

"We can't leave now." Link hoped his tone of voice got the point across. They were not leaving until they found Zelda.

Mia looked uneasy as she started nibbling at her fruit, and Link found himself irritated by the expression on her face. He looked away and busied with fastening his bag and reslinging it over his back. He couldn't help but consider how much quicker the journey to the mountain might have been if he didn't have to worry about her keeping up with him. Not for the first time, he questioned both himself and Gaepora for allowing a young, inexperienced girl to travel with him, even if she was supposedly described in the ancient texts. She hadn't done a lot of 'guiding;' most of her answers to his inquiries about their destination seemed vague at best. Furthermore, from the way he had noticed her observing the scenery earlier with an expression full of wonder, it appeared she hadn't actually seen this area before, in visions or otherwise. His suspicions that she wasn't the one meant to travel with him were steadily growing.

"Can we at least stop in the middle?" She was saying. "There is an ideal spot."

Link squinted and noticed a long wooden platform about three quarters up the mountainside. "Let's try for there," he decided, figuring it would be extremely hard if not impossible to make it up the hill in one go. "Are you ready?"

"Wait, there are monsters." She blurted with worry in her voice.

Link peered at the platform. Sure enough, now that he was paying attention he could see flickers of motion up there. He couldn't tell if there was more than one monster, but either way passing by was going to be unavoidable. "It'll be okay." He replied after a moment, seeing no alternative way up. "Just stay behind me and don't use your wand to make cubes, they make too much noise."

He was immensely grateful that she nodded in agreement and stood, instead of remaining on the ground where she had sat near a boulder. "I feel a bit better," she told him as she placed the wand in her bag and stared unflinchingly at the daunting path that stood between them and the temple. The excess energy imbued within the child seemed to grant her not only strength, but determination as well. "I think we can make it up this hill."

Link too felt the stamina kicking in, slowly sweeping the tiredness from his limbs. He wasn't sure how much time they had bought themselves with the shriveled fruit, but all he could do was pray that it was enough.

Side by side they began to climb the hill. Link quickly found he had underestimated the steepness of the slope. He had to lean, slinging his body forward heavily to keep balance as he struggled for traction in the slippery, sandy dirt. Mia's breathing grew laboured and her shorter strides were causing her to fall behind. Link adjusted his steps, trying to match his pace to hers while forcing himself not to track their slow progress to the designated rest point.

Sweat stung his eyes as they climbed, and more than once his feet nearly went sliding out from under him. The combined weight of his heavy clothes, the shield, and his sword and packs threatened to bring him to his knees. It took every ounce, _every ounce_ of willpower not to give up and let the sand drag him back to where they had started.

Despite the extra energy, his head was feeling dangerously dizzy. The thought of Zelda was all that kept him from the tempting darkness swimming at the edges of his vision. _Goddess, give me strength._

Barely louder than a whisper, the girl's wheezing voice caused him to raise his head. "Link. The platform."

He allowed himself to look up then, and in the time it took them to climb the few remaining feet, he had gathered strength enough to grasp at the edge of the wood planks and heave himself up. He rolled onto his back, groaning with the effort of exertion. A minuscule moment of rest passed before his adrenaline was kick-starting by the sight of a large club swinging at his head.

Link just barely rolled out of the way, and had to force his screaming muscles to bring him to his feet. His rubbery legs buckled as he drew his weapon. For a few frightening seconds he was teetering on the very edge of the platform. Gritting his teeth, he thrust both his arms forwards and used the momentum to stumble away from the edge just as the Bokoblin surged forwards. Right into Link's sword. Link let go with a strangled gasp as the impaled Bokoblin slumped to the side. Yellowish eyes flared with panic and its chest rose and fell rapidly as Link took hold of his sword once more to twist the blade deeper into the monster's flesh. The sickening sight of the Bokoblin spasming made him wince and he averted his eyes from the dying creature, which became still a moment later.

He had to press his foot against the dead body for leverage; once he had pulled his sword out he looked to see if Mia needed help. She had crawled onto the platform, slumped on her hands and knees and seeming unable to get up.

"Behind you!" She managed to shout. He turned and spotted two, no, three more Bokoblins approaching from the far side of the long platform, hostility clear in their screeching voices. Link grasped at Mia's arm and hauled her to her feet. In the state he was in, he knew there was no way to take three Bokoblins down.

"We need to get away from them. Use your wand!" He ordered as they scrambled up the slope.

Mia fumbled in her bag for the instrument and pulled a sideways cube beneath their feet. "That was close." She gasped softly as they were lifted out of reach of the monsters.

A rumbling noise distracted Link before he could reply A huge boulder was rolling down the hill directly toward them. Once again, his adrenaline took over as he grabbed the wand from Mia and used it to raise a cube directly beside them. He pulled the girl along with him, continuing to raise cubes they could run across as the rumbling grew louder and disturbed dirt showered them from above. The boulder missed them by inches, disintegrating the other cubes into clouds of debris and tearing a large hole through the wooden platform below.

"How can a monster be so huge?" Mia stuttered.

When Link saw the monster she was referring to, he immediately began raising sideways cubes to form a diagonal staircase upwards.

"Hurry!" Mia shouted after him. "The next one will crush us!"

Link was thinking the same, and ran, gasping at the pain of pushing his body to move as fast as possible. He managed to pull himself onto the ledge before his legs gave out, and there he stood, attempting to catch his breath as a massive Bokoblin caught sight of him and stepped away from a second boulder.

Picking up a club and a rectangular knife, the Bokoblin swung at Link with the knife and raised its other weapon as a shield. As it lashed out consecutively with its weapons Link was forced to block the first blow and jump away from the next.

 _It's driving me back,_ he realized. _Not towards the edge of the slope, but toward the mountain_.

The monster moved with shocking dexterity, its long arms granting massive reach. It sidestepped the swipe Link aimed at its legs and retaliated with a blow that nearly knocked the sword out of his hands. The feel of his back scraping against the rough rock wall caused Link's breathing to nearly stop. In a moment of panic he stepped forward and whirled in a tight half-spin, but the attack ended up being sloppy and left an opening for the large club to catch him in the stomach. His breathing did stop then, for several painful moments. Staggering against the wall, Link gasped soundlessly, clutching at his battered ribs as the enormous Bokoblin pressed closer. It took a moment to snarl. And then it raised both its weapons.

The blow would have been fatal, but it was not delivered. Instead the tip of a blade pierced through the monster's upper arm and the Bokoblin bellowed, whirling to loom over Mia who was shaking from head to toe. Finally, Link's lungs remembered how to draw in air. He tightened his grip on his sword and thrust it deep into the creature's flesh before quickly withdrawing. The monster fell to its knees. It swayed, then pitched backwards, and Link grunted as he fell beneath the massive body.

"I think it is now dead." Mia shrilled, looking quite ill as she pulled her blood-covered dagger from the Bokoblin's arm.

"You are going to...have to help." The weight was crushing him; it was a struggle to get the words out. Her face turning a shade paler, Mia dropped the dagger and crept closer. After a moment of hesitation she pressed her shoulder against the Bokoblin's side and began to push. Link gritted his teeth and shuddered with revulsion as he fought against the flesh trapping him. They struggled for a moment before managing to heave the corpse to the side. Mia collapsed beside him, her heavy breathing matching his.

"That was brave of you." Link said once he had caught his breath.

Mia still trembled. "I did not know what to do."

"I'm unhurt because of you. You did the right thing by distracting it." He gripped her shoulder a moment then stood and picked up his sword and Mia's dagger, taking both weapons to the pile of boulders the Bokoblin had apparently stockpiled.

As he scraped the blades against the rock, Link found himself monitoring the girl for any sign of emotional distress. He got the feeling that had been the first time she used a weapon. She looked stricken with disgust, as if only now realizing her dagger was capable of inflicting such harm. Eventually she turned to stare over the edge of the cliff, and he followed her gaze. The land spread far from the mountain, as far as Link could see. The dust-coloured expanse was stained red in the light of the fading sun. It was beautiful, in an surreal way.

"Did you see the door?" Mia asked as she walked up. She accepted her cleaned dagger from him and pointed it at the great building set into the side of the mountain.

The door in question consumed nearly the entire wall. Golden carvings of a long, snake-like creature swirled their way up the dark stone and in the middle was a large mechanism made of metal. Link was about to reply when a sudden chattering of voices came from behind them. They both whirled.

"Yo, this is the place, ain't it? So what's it they buried again?" A Mogma with a single tuft of green hair shook himself free of dirt. "And more importantly, where? I didn't find anything when I checked earlier. I don't even know what we're supposed to be looking for, really."

"A key, don't you remember?" The red-haired one shouted as he poked his head up out of a freshly dug hole.

Mia glanced at Link and he shrugged back. "We need to get inside the temple as well. Do you know where this key is?" He asked. The two Mogmas startled at their presence.

"More of you creatures again? How did you get up that freakishly steep hill?" The green-haired one spluttered a bit.

"We're looking for someone, and we think she came this way. Do you know how we might be able to get inside?" Link repeated impatiently.

"What?" The taller Mogma blinked at them through the red hair hanging over his eyes. "Oh yeah. You know the red monsters? Well apparently they busted up the key to that door and hid the pieces. Ain't no getting in without the key. But I'm telling you, one of the five pieces is buried around here somewhere, Cobal."

The green-haired looked thoughtful. "That reminds me... That strange girl in the weird clothes around here earlier…I think she might have been taken away."

Link had heard enough. "How do we find the key?"

"Ledd told you already, the pieces are buried who knows where." Cobal chuckled. "And anyways, it's not like you'll ever find them. We'll find them first! And get to the treasure before you too!"

"Why do you need the key?" Mia asked, sounding confused. "Can you not simply use your claws to dig inside?"

The Mogmas glanced at each other, their snouts slowly splitting into twin grins. Ledd began to chortle. "H-huh, I guess we didn't think of that."

"It does sound easier than searching the whole mountainside. A lot easier. Hey, you ain't as dumb as you look!" Cobal added. Mia said nothing, but squinted her eyes as both Mogmas disappeared into the ground.

"Master Link, I require your confirmation on critical information obtained from that Mogma conversation. There is a 90% probability that the figure in question was indeed Zelda." Fi told him. "Additionally, I calculate there is a 95% probability that the key to this door is made of the same material composition as the mechanism that bars it. I have detected objects of the same material in the surrounding area." Link felt his hands clench into frustrated fists. Being presented with another delay made him want to yell. They did not have the time to look for key pieces hidden all over Eldin.

Skirting the rows of broken columns and pillars, he walked up to the door. Pushing against the large lock did nothing. The heavy stone didn't budge. T _here has to be another way in. Zelda got in some way. All we have to do is figure out how._

"What if we use the Mogma's tunnels?" Mia mumbled. Link pondered her suggestion. The Mogmas were bigger than the two of them, so they'd definitely fit. If there were any problems with blockage, there were always the digging gloves.

"The tunnels might actually work."

"But...shouldn't we return to Skyloft for the night?" Her voice was barely louder than the faint rumbling of the mountain. The golden-red sun hovered near the horizon, and she shaded her eyes from the brilliant light. "Can't we at least rest? I am not used to such... extended periods of travel."

Link almost made a retort, but reconsidered. Although he himself wasn't exactly used to long journeys through unknown lands, thanks to his training he familiar with various physical demands. Amelia on the other hand did not appear to have a single shred of muscle on her scrawny body. As hard as the journey had been for him, she must have been struggling a great deal more.

Seeing how tired she was made Link more aware of his various aches and pains. He knew if they were to continue now, their judgement would be greatly inhibited by exhaustion. As much as he wanted to keep going until they found Zelda, resting was the logical thing to do. It was also safe to assume that with the key pieces scattered all over the territory, nobody else besides the Mogmas would be getting into the temple before they did.

"We should rest. But just until we feel well enough to keep moving." Link made sure to scuff up the ground around the Mogma's holes with his foot so they looked less freshly dug. Not that he thought anything or anybody would attempt to use those holes, but it didn't hurt to be cautious.

"I have an idea." Mia carefully pulled up a cube of sand and dirt a couple of feet taller than Link. Two more cubes made for a small space with the mountain on one side and walls of earth all around.

"Will the cubes stay?" Link wondered as he followed her inside the walled off area.

"I think so, unless we use the wand on them again. Or if something smashes though it, like that boulder. But they should stay otherwise, and the monsters will not find us now." She looked proud of herself. Link didn't have the heart or the energy to ponder everything that could go wrong with her little shelter. He had to admit, it was clever. If something tried to attack them, they would at least have a warning. Even if that warning was a pile of sand raining onto their heads.

One last cube to block the opening, and they were completely sealed behind the walls. Mia removed the bag she carried and laid her dagger carefully beside it. Link mirrored her actions, shedding the heavy shield and sheath. The absence of their weight came as a great relief. It even felt easier to speak, although he hesitated to do so as they settled themselves against the rough wall of the mountain.

"Where exactly do you come from?" He asked. He'd been wondering for quite some time. "You said you are not from the sky." She didn't respond as she wrapped her borrowed sailcloth around her shoulders. Link paused before asking, "How did you get to Skyloft? And where is your family?" Privately he was wondering what kind of people would send their child out on a quest all alone.

"The goddess...brought me here. I only have a mother. But I do not think she knows where I am." Mia looked uncomfortable, and from the way she avoided his gaze Link got the feeling the topic was one she had no desire to speak openly about. Rather than asking more questions she would clearly feel forced to answer, he prioritized bringing out the last of the food and dividing it in half. They shared in silence the few small loaves of bread and a couple apples apiece as the sky was swept over into the darker stage of twilight. With the heat of the day fading and the air cooling, the temperature was growing bearable. Comfortable, even. Above their heads the glow from the mountain lit the night so they could see each other dimly. Link also kept his sword unsheathed; the faint, blue light was comforting.

After the food was gone, they assumed as comfortable positions as they could manage. _At least the ground here is relatively flat_ , Link thought. As tired as he was, he didn't think he'd be able to get any rest with rough rocks prodding him from every angle.

"I found these along the path." Mia spoke, reaching into her bag and cautiously withdrawing a pile of small, red shapes that filled her cupped hands. He accepted the fruits she gently tipped over his palms and blinked in surprise when he recognized them. "There were some near the very first hill we climbed and more beside the bridge. I stopped to pick them because I thought we might be hungry later. And I know they help like the stamina fruit."

"The stamina fruits give a temporary energy boost." Link said between bites. "Heart fruits provide long-lasting energy as well as heal injury, so they are more useful in some ways."

"I am glad they will help us." Her voice wavered as she swallowed a mouthful. "I am...sorry about the bombs. Next time I will make sure to think twice before using them. I just thought… that I could be helpful."

Link was surprised she was bringing the rock plugs up, seeing how embarrassed and upset she had seemed after the incident. "Don't worry." He tried to sound understanding. "We escaped unscathed, didn't we?"

The silence that followed his words was maintained by them both. Eventually, Mia pulled the sailcloth tighter around her and carefully lay on her side with her bag under her head. Link caught a quiet, remorseful sigh, and he found himself wondering yet again what this child was doing out here, in this dangerous land.

After carefully stowing the remaining heart fruits in one of his pouches, he leaned against the mountain wall and stretched his legs out. His gaze was drawn upwards, past the walls of earth and to the sky. Stars were beginning to come out, faint through the pale haze that drifted through the air overtop the mountain. Link wondered if wherever she was, Zelda was gazing skyward too.

* * *

 _She was floating, held in space as if suspended in water. Moving her arms and legs slowly, she watched the white light around her infuse with streaks of blue, and tried to remember exactly when she had opened her eyes._

" _Child..." A voice called out, sounding like it was all around her. "The time has nearly come for you to awaken to your destiny."_

" _Who are you?" Something about the voice was vaguely familiar… but she could not place where she had heard it before._

" _There is little time to spare." The voice had taken on an urgent tone. "When the moon is at its fullest you must follow it to the frost-covered land. There, you will discover the destiny chosen for you before the world even began."_

 _How could I have a destiny in a place I do not belong? A place that exists merely in stories? Mia wondered, but had no time to further ponder the meaning of these puzzling words, for a vision was appearing through the light. She saw trees with rigid, frozen branches, and a vast plane covered in snow. Images of dark mountains and a path paved in clear, pearlescent stones flashed past her eyes. She could see the path leading to a dark cave with sharp points of ice surrounding the entrance._

 _Deep in that cave was a hulking outline of a monstrous creature. It opened its blood-red eyes and snarled, lunging forward with glinting fangs._

* * *

Link fully expected to see monsters in front of his face as he jerked awake to the sound of a scream. "What is it!?" His neck twinged painfully as he scrambled to his feet; he had nodded off with his head falling over his chest, and the delicate muscles felt somewhat strained.

"It was a dream…" Mia spoke, staring up at him with wide eyes. Her face was pale, and tendrils of damp hair stuck to her forehead. She looked disorientated, and frightened.

"A dream?" The haziness of sleep was beginning to clear from his mind. Seeing that they were not in danger, he put his sword away.

Mia didn't offer any insight to what had frightened her so badly and he didn't ask, concluding the dream had been a generic nightmare. Perhaps about the monsters they had encountered, or the Bokoblin she had stuck with her dagger.

Relaxing his muscles, Link blinked his eyes clear of lingering sleepiness. The air felt crisp now, as it was on Skyloft during early hours before the sun had burned away the fog. With a start, he noticed that the sky was significantly lighter. "If you are okay to move, we should start making our way through the tunnels. It is almost dawn."

Mia nodded and seemed to compose herself, her hands unclenching as she began to fold the sailcloth.

Replacing the shield on his back and the sword on his hip, Link discreetly watched as she stood, wincing, and slung her bag onto her back. He noticed she looked in better shape; the scrapes on her face were still visible but faded, and her sunburn looked less inflamed. The heart fruit's healing properties had been hard at work during the night.

"Watch out." Mia warned, and he joined her on one side of the shelter as she raised the wand and pointed at the cubes. What Link saw as the sand crumbled away caused his chest to seize. The great door to the temple was ajar. What must have been the key was fully assembled and sticking out of the lock mechanism.

"But how could someone have constructed the key?" Mia sounded confused. "The Mogmas said the pieces were hidden everywhere."

 _Only someone with demon powers could have resembled the key so quickly, and without any sort of dowsing aid…!_ Link's heart was racing faster than his legs ever could as they ran forward. _Ghirahim!_

As they slipped through the doors and into darkness together, Link's face was bathed with a smoldering heat. A cracked stone staircase led downwards. The darkness began to grow lighter as they hurriedly followed the stairs into the mountain. "Keep quiet. There might be monsters." Link muttered, holding his sword out as the bottom of the stairs came into view. They crept down the last few steps and stepped onto a path composed entirely of smooth, blue tile. Any effort to remain stealthy didn't last long as, a split second before he did, Mia caught sight of-

"Water!"

All caution momentarily thrown aside, they rushed in unison to the small shallow just off the path, a pond of sorts that looked man-made. Water trickled steadily from the cupped hands of a miniature statue, the details so worn Link wasn't able to discern who or what it it was meant to depict. Not that the source of the water was his main priority at the moment.

He got to his knees, filling his hands again and again, and not even caring that the water was tepid. Beside him, Mia gasped and dragged an arm across her mouth. "I think I may burst!"

"Thank the Goddess…" Link murmured after he had quenched his thirst. _There's no way we would have made it._ After filling the water pouch, he slipped it back into his bag.

"Let's go." Mia surprised him by being the one to urge them onward as she got to her feet. "I've got a good feeling we're going to find Zelda soon."

The space they found themselves in was cavernous; it appeared they had descended into the very heart of the mountain. There were no monsters in sight, except for the few dark shapes of bats fluttering near the ceiling, and the area was primarily occupied with lava. The fiery glow illuminating the space had a hazy effect on Link's eyes.

The blue-tiled pathway snaked through the lava and was wide enough for him and Mia to walk side by side. The temple had clearly been there a very long time; the path seemed to have been flanked by statues at some point, but all that remained now were chunks of stone in various stages of deterioration. There were also places where lava threatened to lap at their feet as it oozed over where the tile had sunken.

"There is a door." Mia pointed towards the far end of the room. Link's steps slowed as the path ended abruptly. He could see where it resumed, pushing up through the lava. "What about those platforms? We can use them to jump across. Like earlier, on our way to the mountain."

Link nodded his agreement after a moment, surprised, but not unhappy that she was showing initiative. The floating platforms were spaced at regular intervals and formed paths across the lava to different sections of the huge room. They looked like a relatively easy way across. He jumped, throwing his arms out for balance as the rock pitched more than he expected with his landing. A sudden lava spout startled Mia and she flinched, thrown slightly off balance as she joined him on the first platform.

"Careful." He grabbed her arm to steady her. "I don't want to have to fish you out of there."

She nervously eyed the distance to the next platform.

"You can make it. See?" Link jumped and landed as softly as he could, remembering to adjust his stance to compensate for the sudden weight on one side of the rock. "Easy." She jumped, maintaining her balance as the platform wobbled slightly. "That's the way." Link kept his eye on her as they continued to make their way across the lava. When they stepped back onto the blue tile where the path resumed, Link noticed a rope at the top of the door leading to a gear mechanism. The rope looked to be holding the strange door shut against the wall.

"It's a drawbridge." Said Mia. "We need to cut the rope to let the door down."

Link squinted at the gears, high up on the wall. "How will we reach it?"

Mia thought for a moment before her eyes lit up. "What about a Skyward Strike?"

Link agreed to try, unsheathing his weapon and raising it skyward. When the blade had charged through with power he swung the sword, sending a beam of light toward the top of the door. The rope went spinning out of its gear. The door fell, slamming onto the path and forming a bridge into the next room, which also appeared to be filled with lava.

"Look." Mia pointed ahead. Link recognized the red-haired Mogma from earlier, and it clearly remembered them as well.

"Hey! Nice timing!" He waved as they approached. Link became slightly perturbed upon realizing the Mogma wasn't half-submerged in the ground as usual, but sitting cross-legged outside of its hole. The rest of his body was shockingly small; the large, muscular arms made his furry legs look tiny in comparison.

"So you were able to dig your way in." Mia observed.

"Yeeep." Ledd grinned. "You know, that was an excellent idea. I'm so glad I thought of it!"

"You...did not."

"Have you seen anyone else here?" Link asked, ignoring Mia's indignation. "A girl with yellow hair, or a figure dressed in black?" He didn't ask about the demon, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"Well, I didn't see anyone. But Cobal said he did. A while ago, dude was trying to find the bomb bag that he dropped when he came across a bunch of monsters who were draggin' away one of your kind. But then we got separated by some lava before he could tell me the rest of the story. Luckily, I was behind that rock looking for treasure when those lizard creeps showed up. They went through that way, and blew up the path behind them." He pointed to a wall filled with boulders. "I didn't get noticed so here I am now, still with my head on my shoulders. Better off than Cobal probably is right now..."

"Behind that wall is where the monsters went?"

"Yeah. It would be a snap to get through if you had Cobal's lost bomb bag. It's a bag for carrying around bomb flowers. Shrinks them all magic-like, so they weigh nothing and take up barely any room to boot. Can't imagine not having one, really." Ledd continued. "The ones that grow here work too, I guess." He conceded, as Link pulled a nearby bomb out of its nest of petal-like leaves and hurled it at the wall.

 **BOOM!**

Like the golden door in the forest temple had been, the door hidden behind the boulders was covered in elaborate carvings. Wondering how it opened, Link reached out and touched the stone. The door immediately shifted and slid smoothy sideways with a grating sound. The small room behind looked to be bathed in red; Link attributed the eerie glow to the lava pouring down the walls from holes near the ceiling.

In the middle of the room was a large platform floating in a pool of lava. A green, scaly creature stood there, appearing to be wearing metal armor. It had yellow eyes and a long snout with protruding fangs, and was at least a head taller than him.

Fi spoke. "Master Link, I am detecting this new enemy, the Lizalfos, to be a creature of significant physical ability. Known for their dexterity, these creatures prefer to fight in packs, as to easily surround and overwhelm their opponent. Where there is one, there is most likely another somewhere close by."

"Look out!" Mia exclaimed as the lizard creature darted forward. It did not attack with its talons but spun instead and swiped at Link with the mace-like protrusion on the end of its long tail. Drawing his sword and shield, Link jumped back and watched warily as the Lizalfos began to circle him. The creature slowly crept forward, its body sinking and its legs coiling as if it was about to-

It sprang and Link side-stepped, raising his sword to slash at the large metal glove encasing the creature's right arm.

A distressed cry caught his attention. He spared a glance and saw a second Lizalfos hissing as it locked its gaze on Mia. She backed up, and pressed herself against iron bars which now blocked the doorway into the room. He felt a flare of panic as he watched the Lizalfos advance on the girl.

Link intended to run to her but the other Lizalfos jumped in his way. He yelled and swung his sword at the creature's head. The large claws on its feet scraped against the ground as it avoided his attack and slashed back with one of its own, it's glinting claws nearly catching his face. Blocking the blow with his shield, Link looked back and saw the other Lizalfos had pinned Mia to the ground with one clawed hand gripping her throat. It screeched, an obnoxious sound so grating that Link practically felt his eardrums vibrate.

He gritted his teeth and turned his attention back to the Lizalfos toying with him. The creature was nimble, but Link noticed it seemed to consistently leave the entire lower half of its body unguarded whenever it attacked. As the Lizalfos sprang forward, arm reared back for another vicious swipe, Link ducked and plunged his sword straight into the monster's gut.

The second Lizalfos shrieked; Link assumed the noise was in response to his kill. But as he recovered his sword and stepped away from the dead creature, he saw that Mia had pulled out her dagger and plunged it into the monster's scaly hand. Still shrieking, the Lizalfos ripped the dagger out and threw it aside; it clanged against the far wall and dropped into the lava.

Link wasted no time in racing forwards and bashing the monster's face with his shield. It was stunned and staggered slightly, releasing the girl. Link flung away his shield, taking the sword in both hands and delivering a swift blow to the creature's neck. The Lizalfos, nearly rendered headless, slumped to the floor with a spray of thick, dark blood. Link swallowed back the bile rising in his throat and tried his best to ignore the putrid smell rising from the leaking body. Swiftly, he turned to Mia.

"Are you hurt?" He knelt beside her, his voice faltering as he caught sight of a long, shallow scrape up the inside of her arm. Her neck was scratched where the Lizalfos had grasped her.

"It hurts." Her pale eyes opened, and she clutched at her upper arm, shoulders heaving as she sat up. "But it should not... hurt this badly." To his horror, the tears streaming down her face continued to fall, and her face contorted as she clearly made an effort to hold back her sobs. She did not succeed.

 _Goddess above_ , Link thought. _What do I do now?_ He really did not want to leave after they had come all this way, but she was bleeding badly and he didn't know what to do. He felt overwhelmed at seeing her nearly killed, and yet again questioned himself about why this had been allowed to happen.

"I can take you back to Skyloft." He said, taking the shaking girl by the shoulders and holding her steady. "We can go right now."

"N-no, we must...continue after your friend. She is in danger. Ghirahim..." She broke off abruptly and blinked in the wake of fresh tears, her hands coming up to wipe at her face and leaving a smear of red on her cheek.

Link let go, giving her some space as he dug into his pouch and removed a heart fruit, which had squashed slightly. "Eat this quickly. It will help with the bleeding."

"W-we need to hurry." She managed between shuddering breaths as she took the fruit. "We have...already wasted so much time."

"It's alright. Can you stand?" He helped her up and watched the blood trickling out of her arm slow to a stop as she ate her way through the fruit. The wound wasn't so minor that the fruit would heal it completely, but it would at least help until they returned to Skyloft. "We can use your sailcloth to wrap your arm for now."

"I am fine. We...we need to keep going." She insisted, and pointed with her good arm to the blue and gold treasure chest that had appeared in the middle of the room. He could hear in her voice how much she struggled to choke back her sobs as she tucked the shredded folds of her sleeve around her injury. "W-what is in there?"

Tearing his concerned gaze away, Link stepped over and flung open the chest. He pulled out a bag made of rough brown cloth. "This must be the bomb bag the Mogma was talking about. I wonder what it was doing inside a treasure chest." Mia said nothing, and he noticed she was staring back at the dead Lizalfos. "Maybe the monsters thought they could hide it there." Link shoved the small bag into one of his belt pouches. On the other side of the platform, bars were lifting from the door, revealing a hallway lined with white stone. Link picked up his sword, leaving it unsheathed. Mia quickly stepped forward, keeping close beside him, so close he could feel her still trembling. But nothing came through the door.

After glancing at Mia to make sure her arm hadn't started to bleed again, Link crossed the room, keeping his sword in a defensive position.

Torches on the walls flickered as they walked into a massive room where the tiled path sloped steeply upwards and walls of rock lined either side. All the way at the top of the slope, a statue of the head of some massive creature greeted them. It had a squarish snout, long fangs, and fierce eyes. The creature's mouth was dripping red; a boulder was crammed between the carved fangs, but lava appeared to be leaking around it.

"A dragon." Mia whispered, still keeping close to him.

Underneath the dragon was a closed door nearly identical to the one that had barred the temple entrance. Link's sword glowed brighter as Fi lept out to hover in front of him. "Master Link. I detect Zelda's aura in the surrounding area, and suggest we continue with all possible speed."

Mia suddenly pulled at his sleeve. Link followed her pointing finger and froze. A figure dressed in white stood on top of the dragon head.

"Oh, it's the children from the forest," he called down to them, not sounding particularly pleased. "Just...perfect. I suppose the only upside here is that you are just as late as I am in saving...or in my case kidnapping, your friend."

"Why are you here?" Link shouted. He felt hatred simmering in his stomach as he stared at the demon. The feeling was not something he was used to, and he felt a little sick with the intensity of it. "What do you want with Zelda?"

"I suppose it does not really matter what I want since she has escaped, thanks to that goddess-serving _dog."_ Ghirahim's face twisted in rage and he stalked from one side of the statue to the other, pulling his red cloak tightly around him.

"What do you want with her?" Link shouted again, his voice raw as he all but screamed at the demon.

Ghirahim fell silent and shot a wicked smile their way. "I'm afraid you shall be long dead before you ever find that out. I am sorry dear children, but there are now new complications I am forced to formulate my plan around. I simply do not have the time to sit around and chat. However, I could do with a good, satisfying stress reliever." He called, throwing his cape over his shoulder and tossing his head. "The thought of the goddess's chosen hero burning to a crisp sounds quite satisfying. I believe….yes, I believe I shall leave you with a friend." He smiled again, his eyes narrowing as he snapped his fingers and disappeared. A cloud of shimmering yellow, red, and white diamonds lingered behind.

The dragon head started to shake, pieces of stone crumbling away. Link snatched Mia's hand, gripping her tightly. They started to run, spurred on by the terrifying crashing noise as the boulder previously caught in the dragon's jaws was released. It sounded like it was gaining speed, and the hallway suddenly seemed too far away.

 _We are not going to make it._ The thought flitted through his head as the shaking ground rumbled with more intensity, causing them both to stumble. The boulder sounded overwhelmingly close now, and Link braced himself for the pain. What came instead was a flash of light before him and Mia were both flung forward into the passageway by an inexplicable force.

Link grunted and scrambled to turn over, blinking rapidly at what he saw behind him. The boulder appeared to have frozen. It was held suspended in the air somehow, not two feet from smashing into them. A glowing blue light surrounded the stone, pulsating slightly. Then, the brightness of the light intensified and the boulder exploded into pieces. Link flinched away, turning his back and raising his arm to shield his eyes as bits of rock flew every which way.

"Fi…did you...do that?" He coughed in the cloud of dust and smoke that hovered in the air.

"If you refer to the divine shield, it could not have been I who caused a trigger." Fi spoke, her voice growing louder as she gathered her spirit to leave the sword.

"Divine shield?"

The sword spirit floated in front of Mia, who was on her knees and holding the side of her head. A small amount of blood was trickling down the side of her face and darkening the tendrils of hair that had fallen out of her braid. "Master Link, I have some new information I deem important to share. What just occurred is known as a divine shield. When one who is under divine protection is at risk of immediate death, the shield will activate and repel the threat. This protection is typically bestowed under agents of the goddess who have sworn a great oath."

"You are... under protection?" Link stared at Mia's hand. It was glowing with a blue light that seemed to be fading away. "Why… why didn't the shield trigger earlier? With the Lizalfos?"

"I cannot assume to know the goddess's intentions. But I believe that with you there, the goddess believed the girl was under no risk of death. It is likely Amelia will be spared from critical harm until her purpose to the goddess is fulfilled. As you can see from the injuries she has sustained, this protection does not render one completely invincible, but merely safe from fatal injury."

"But what... what is the reason for this?" The girl spoke, her voice high-pitched. "I have sworn no oath. I... I do not even know why I am here."

A rumble came from outside the tunnel, startling both of them, and Link leapt to his feet, sensing the danger had not yet passed. "Stay here. I will return for you."

At first, when he stepped back into the room, Link thought the giant boulder had reformed. When the dust cleared further, he saw that the shape in front of him was no boulder. Although it was round, it had legs, six of them that glowed bright orange like lava. The cracked surface of its body looked to be made of burnt plates of rock. The creature _moved_ , scrambling forward like an insect, and Link immediately turned and began to run up the slope.

Peering over his shoulder, he could see the creature's legs slamming into the ground as it stomped forwards, continuing to pursue him up the hill. It was catching up. The summit was quickly approaching, and Link soon would be out of options. A desperate plan began to take shape in his mind. As he ran, he scoured the ground on either side of him, frantically searching for bomb flowers, before he remembered the bomb pouch they had found earlier. Reaching inside his bag for the rough sack, he thrust his hand inside, blinking when he...felt something. His hand emerged holding a full-sized, hissing bomb flower. Immediately he turned and threw it behind him.

 **-BOOM-**

When the smoke cleared, Link squinted his eyes in the dust and saw with great relief that the Ghirahim's rock creature was no longer looming above him. The force of the bomb had knocked it off of balance, and it was toppling backwards, rolling down the slope. He watched as the creature collided with the wall at the very bottom, the impact so great that shards of stone were chipped off of the creatures body. Link squinted. There was an orange glow showing through cracks in the rock monster's body… as if the rocks were its armour. The creature wobbled to its feet and took a few stumbling steps forward, then seemed to shake itself and start back up the hill again.

Link stayed at the top, watching the monster approach. All feelings of fear had left him along with awareness of exhaustion and weariness. All he felt now was anger, seething, and boiling within him as the lava boiled inside the earth.

This thing would not keep him from catching up to Zelda. He would not let this monster keep him from saving his friend for a moment longer.

Instead of rushing all the way up, Ghirahim's monster halted halfway up the slope and reared on its hindmost legs. Link watched as a crevice opened in the rock face and the creature spat a ball of glowing fire. Link leapt aside and dropped to a crouch to avoid the second. Reaching into his bag again, he pulled out a bomb and raised above his head, giving a yell and launching the it through the air. It exploded on impact and the monster was sent rolling back down the hill. It slammed into the wall again, more pieces cracking off, but rose again. It made a noise that crossed between a scream and two large rocks grating against each other.

"Once more." Link whispered, holding a smoking bomb flower at the ready as the monster persistently scrambled up the slope. He waited until the creature was nearly on top of him before flinging the bomb directly into an orange crevice between the cracks of its rock body.

 _ **BOOM!**_

Link sprinted down the hill, following the creature as it rolled down the hill. Taking his sword in both hands, he attacked at the orange, exposed parts of the monster's body with vicious ferocity. Most of the rock pieces had fallen off, and Link could see a bright blue eye rolling around. Drawing his sword back, he plunged it straight into the middle of the giant pupil. Brightly-colored liquids sprayed everywhere as the monster roared, a horrible sound that made Link want to clamp his hands over his ears.

He jumped backwards as the creature collapsed in a jumble of limbs and rock pieces. The light in its eye dimmed and disappeared, and its whole lava body became black, the orange light extinguishing as if it were turning to stone. It shuddered once and made a sound like crackling fire before exploding into dust and diamonds.

Above his head something materialized, floating gently down to the ground. Link picked the glittering object up. It was shaped like a heart made out of glass and was hollow inside. Red liquid sloshed around in the strange container, which was outlined in delicate, golden designs that curled around the edges. Slowly, the heart grew small enough to fit into Link's hand as he held it. He wasn't sure what it was supposed to be. A trophy for defeating the monster? _Or a helping hand from the Goddess; some mystic healing potion?_

Still breathing heavily, he stuck the heart in the bomb bag and headed back toward the passageway. The hallway had filled up slightly with debris from the rock monster. He heard Mia's faint voice calling his name from behind the rocks.

He began to pull rocks away from the blocked passage, but stopped when he noticed his sword glowing blue. He took it out; it glowed brighter when pointed towards the dragon statue. "I am heading after Zelda!" He called, gathering himself for one last run.

"Don't leave me, please!" She pleaded from the other side.

"Zelda may still be here. Amelia, I swear by the goddess I will come back for you."

* * *

The door at the top of the slope had a bird-shaped crest on it. The symbol turned golden as Link approached and then the door disappeared, fading into nothing. He hurried through the empty doorway and into a room filled with pillars so white they appeared to glow. The walls of the room were also white, and while there were torches on the walls circling the perimeter, another source of light was causing the room to glow. Up a few steps two figures stood on a platform in front of a shimmering door of golden light. One was was tall, thin, and dressed in strange, dark clothes. The other wore a long white dress and had yellow hair.

Link's heart began to race, and a multitude of emotions swarmed through him all at once. "Zelda!"

The girl spun at the sound of his voice, her eyes filling with jubilation at the sight of him. "Link!" She began to run forward, but the other figure extended her arm.

"You cannot go to him Your Grace. Remember what we discussed, and how you must restrain yourself from distraction during this crucial time."

Zelda's face fell, and she hesitated, then turned away. "I...I have to go. I am...so sorry, Link." She said, her soft voice wavering as the golden light enveloped her. She was gone, leaving behind the image of her mournful expression burned into his mind.

The other woman turned and stared at him fiercely with amber eyes. Her hair was pale and short, except for one long braid that reached the orange belt around her waist. There was an elaborate tattoo of an eye on her forehead in red ink. From the commanding way she held herself, Link immediately knew that she had been the figure at the bridge.

She raised her hand before he could speak, which was probably a good thing considering the words he had intended to hurl. Zelda had finally been right in front of him. Having her disappear again was too much. The anger that had boiled inside of Link while he fought against Ghirahim's monster was close to overflowing now, and it took great effort for him not to rush this woman with his sword.

"As I thought." She raised her chin and stared at him as if sensing his thoughts. "It took you much too long to get here, and when faced with the consequences of your actions you allow your emotions to get the best of you in a juvenile manner. Looking at you, I fear the Goddess is mistaken in her choice of agents."

"I… I am sorry." He said hollowly. The anger was starting to drain from him now, leaving a terrible, empty feeling as if his heart had been torn out of his chest.

"I seek not your apologies, boy." She snapped and turned, walking into the golden light, adding before disappearing, "Although you should be sorry. If I had not come when I did, Zelda would already have fallen into the hands of the enemy. But there is still the chance to redeem yourself yet."

"Wait!" Rushing forward, he stared at the small spring of crystalline water that appeared as the light faded out of existence. His cries echoed off the pillars, making their way back to him, desperate and distraught. "Where is Zelda? _Where has she gone now?!_ "


End file.
